Who's To Say He Did It
by phoenixgirl26
Summary: Harry said enough is enough and decides to deal with his problems, permanently. Warning: slash, character death, some Hermione bashing. Good Weasley's.
1. Chapter 1

Spoilers: some parts from this story are from Harry potter and the order of the phoenix, owned by JK Rowling. I make no money on this story, I just play around with the characters.

Chapter one

Even though Harry Potter had a godfather, Dumbledore nor anyone else believed Harry should be allowed to live with Sirius Black. They all believed Harry should remain at the Dursley's. Harry had hinted about how he was treated by his aunt and uncle, but it seemed to make no difference.

Ever since he returned to the house from Hogwarts after his first year Harry was beginning to get worried. Vernon's treatment or punishment as Vernon called it, seemed to be getting worse. His aunt never actually hit him but she withheld food more often and her nasty looks and names were getting worse. But she encouraged her husband to use any means to squash the freakishness out of her nephew. So Vernon Dursley had taken it upon himself to discipline Harry, to Harry it was having the shit kicked out of him. No matter who saw him out in the yard, it seemed the neighbours around number four all believed what Vernon and Petunia said about him, he was a delinquent and often had to be sent to a home for criminal boys.

He's only escape had been to Hogwarts, even though he had to be careful the first week or so, he couldn't allow anyone to see his many bruises or the cuts that covered his back and legs. Harry would deliberately get up early and have a shower before any other boys in Gryffindor woke so they wouldn't see. The few times he slept in Harry would shower late at night, he didn't like doing that as sometimes one of the older boys would end up in the bathrooms at the same time. Harry would either wait until they left or quickly dry and dress before the boys finished in the shower.

He had used quidditch as an excuse once, the beginning of his third year Hermione had noticed some blood on one of his robes. Harry told her he had gone flying earlier and hit one of the goal posts. She seemed to accept that excuse so Harry made sure he did go flying the next morning, he knew what he planned would hurt but he had no choice. He flew about ten feet off the ground then deliberately fell onto the ground. The wind had been knocked out of him and it took him a few minutes before he could get back on the broom. Then it was the more painful bumps he needed to do, he slammed into the goal posts three times, making sure he hit his arm once, leg once and back once. If anyone did see the bruises or cuts he now had the perfect excuse.

It was during that year that Harry discovered a charm that would aid him if he needed it. He scoffed at the thought, of course he would need it. Vernon would never miss an opportunity to deal with him, which meant with fists and feet. So Harry would sneak into unused classrooms, sneaking away using his cloak, he would then practice the glamour charm. He would start on his arms until he had it perfect then he would do his legs. His back was the hardest, but he was able to angle his arm just enough so the wand would touch his back, in various places. While Harry had been practicing, he figured he could use the glamour to his advantage. Sneak out of the Dursley's, find somewhere secluded then change his appearance just enough so no one would ever believe he was Harry Potter.

Finally it was Harry's fifth year, he thought it would have to be better than the last four, but he wasn't counting on it, not when the wizarding world refused to believe Voldemort had returned. So many thought Dumbledore and Harry were lying; even so called friends had turned their back on Harry after he survived the tournament and the graveyard. Even though he had been keeping his distance from certain people since his first year, now he hardened himself, he would not let anyone in again.

It was only the first class that Harry Potter realised he was not going to have a good year at Hogwarts, he laughed bitterly thinking, when has he ever had a good year at Hogwarts. Never, so why would this year be any different to the last four.

Apart from Dolores Umbridge, the new defence against the dark arts teacher, Harry was becoming increasingly annoyed by Hermione and her attitude. He never told anyone, not even Ron that he was beginning to really dislike Hermione Granger. One thing concerned Harry and that is the only reason he never told Ron how he feels, he knew Ron had begun to like Hermione, more than just a friend. But he was still having a problem with Ron after his friend believed he entered the tournament the year before. Harry did forgive him but he won't trust him again.

But Harry had realised he had stopped confiding in a lot of people, not just Ron. It took him a couple of years at being at Hogwarts to realise he had to be careful, that no one was really watching his back so he would have to do it himself.

He was grateful to Hermione for her for helping Sirius escape but he knew that Hermione didn't really like Sirius Black. Not long after he did escape on Buckbeak she had been doing her usually stuff of researching, but now she was researching Sirius and his relationship with James Potter. Harry never told her he found out what she was doing, mainly because he had a feeling he knew her reasons.

If Harry could swing it he would spend as much of his holidays with Sirius and not at Privet drive. As far as Hermione is concerned, if Albus Dumbledore said Harry had to remain with his relatives, than Harry should just trust the headmaster. Harry didn't trust the headmaster, he lost his trust in the old man not long after saving the philosophers stone. Harry had asked him why Voldemort wanted to kill him when he was a baby, Dumbledore wouldn't tell him even though Harry felt he had the right. But another reason he had lost his trust in the old man was Snape and how he got away with the way he treated not only Harry, but others, especially the students in Gryffindor. From then on he just refused to have anything to do with Dumbledore, he didn't even look at him. Everyone thought Harry was angry with Dumbledore for ignoring him, but Harry actually liked the fact the old man wasn't giving him any attention.

The headmaster and Hermione weren't the only people he lost trust in. Another was Remus Lupin, at first Harry thought it would be great to talk to the man as he had gone to school with his parents. But it took Harry a few months into his fourth year before he realised that Remus, who was supposedly good friends with his parents, never bothered to visit Harry when he was a kid. If Remus had then maybe the Dursley's treatment of him would not have been so harsh. But after he left Hogwarts, Harry never heard from him again, to Harry, Remus Lupin betrayed his friendship with James and Lily Potter.

Harry did care for Sirius and was glad he was free, he would give anything to be able to live with him and away from the Dursley's. But Harry realised that he didn't fully trust Sirius either. Like with Remus it took Harry a while to realise that Sirius stayed in Azkaban for twelve years, he only decided to escape when he saw that picture of the Weasley's, Pettigrew was on Ron's shoulder. Harry realise that Sirius didn't escape to help his godson, he wanted revenge for the rat getting his best friend, James Potter, killed. Harry realised Sirius only saw Harry as an extension of James, he wanted Harry to be like his father, he wasn't, Harry wasn't like anyone, not his father nor his mother.

Another thing that was beginning to grate on Harry was Hermione's attitude towards house elves. Harry knew some weren't treated good, like Dobby, but most loved their life, yet Hermione just couldn't see it.

He kept watching at her as she stared down at a blank piece of parchment, he had no idea what she was doing or thinking, but he realised he didn't really care.

'Oh, it's no good, I can't concentrate now. I'm going to bed,' Hermione said, Harry thought thank bloody merlin.

She wrenched her bag open; Harry thought she was about to put her book away, but instead she pulled out two misshapen woolly objects, placed them carefully on a table by the fireplace, covered them with a few screwed-up bits of parchment and a broken quill and stood back to admire her effect.

'What in the name of merlin are you doing?' said Ron, watching her as though fearful for her sanity. Harry had a feeling he knew but he would bide his time, for now.

'They're hats for house-elves,' she said briskly, now stuffing her books back into her bag. 'I did them over the summer. I'm a really slow knitter without magic but now I'm back at school I should be able to make lots more.'

'You're leaving out hats for the house-elves?' said Ron slowly. 'and you're covering them up with rubbish first?'

'Yes,' said Hermione defiantly, swinging her bag on to her back.

'That's not on,' said Ron angrily, 'you're trying to trick them into picking up the hats. You're setting them free when they might not want to be free.'

'Of course they want to be free!' said Hermione at once, though her face was turning pink. 'Don't you dare touch those hats, Ron!' she turned on her heels and left. Ron waited until she had disappeared through the door to the girls dormitories, then cleared the rubbish off the woolly hats.

'They should at least see what they're picking up,' he said firmly. 'Anyway'…he rolled up the parchment on which he had written the title of Snape's essay, 'there's no point trying to finish this now, I can't do it without Hermione, I haven't got a clue what you're supposed to do with moonstones, have you?'

Harry shook his head just to satisfy Ron, he had done the research in the library, but Ron would never think to do that, he wants the easy way out for anything, especially homework.

Harry noticed as he shook his head that the ache in his right temple was getting worse. He thought of the long essay on giant wars and the pain stabbed at him sharply. He decided that learning history of magic from Binns was a waste of time, but since his head hurt he would forget doing the homework and just go to the library sometime tomorrow. Reading about giant wars from a book wouldn't be as boring as Binns was in talking about it.

Harry passed Seamus on the way to the door leading to the dormitories, but did not look at him. Harry had a fleeing impression that Seamus had opened his mouth to speak, but he sped up and reached the soothing peace of the stone spiral staircase without having to endure any more provocation.


	2. Chapter 2

Spoilers: some parts from this story are from Harry potter and the order of the phoenix, owned by JK Rowling. I make no money on this story, I just play around with the characters.

Chapter two

At five to five Harry bade the others goodbye and set off for Umbridge's office on the third floor. When he knocked on the door she called, come in, in a sugary voice. He entered cautiously, looking around.

He had known this office under three of it's previous occupants.

In the days when Gilderoy Lockhart had lived here it had been plastered in beaming portraits of himself. When Lupin had occupied it, it was likely you would meet some dark creature in a cage or tank if you came to call. In the imposter Moody's days it had been packed with various instruments and artefacts for the detention of wrongdoing and concealment. Now, however, it looked totally unrecognisable. The surfaces had all be draped in lacy covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers, each one residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large technicolour kitten wearing a different bow around its neck. These were so foul that Harry started at them, transfixed, until professor Umbridge spoke again.

'Good evening, Mr Potter.

Harry started and looked around. He had not noticed her at first because she was wearing a luridly flowered set of robes that blended only too well with the tablecloth on her desk behind her.

'Evening, Professor Umbridge,' Harry said stiffly.

'Well, sit down,' she said, pointing towards a small table draped in lace beside which she had drawn up a straight-backed chair. A piece of blank parchment lay on the table, apparently waiting for him.

'Err,' said Harry, without moving, 'professor Umbridge. Err – before we start, I – I wanted to ask you a…a favour.'

Her eye's narrowed.

'Oh, yes?'

'Well, I'm…I'm in the Gryffindor quidditch team. And I was supposed to be at the tryouts for the new keeper at five o'clock on Friday and I was – was wonder whether I could skip detention that night and do it – do it another night – instead…'

He knew long before he reached the end of his sentence that it was no good.

'Oh no,' said Umbridge, smiling so widely that she looked as though she had just swallowed a particularly juicy fly, 'Oh, no, no, no. This is your punishment for spreading evil, nasty, attention – seeking stories, Mr Potter, and punishments certainly cannot be adjusted to suit the guilty one's convenience. No, you will come here at five o'clock tomorrow, and the next day, and on Friday too, and you will do your detentions as planned. I think it's rather a good thing that you are missing something you really want to do. It ought to reinforce the lesson I am trying to teach you.

Harry felt his blood surge in his head and heard a thumping noise in his ears. So he told "evil, nasty attention – seeking stories" did he?

She was watching him with her head slightly to one side, still smiling widely, as though she knew exactly what he was thinking and was waiting to see whether he would start shouting again. With a massive effort, Harry looked away from her, dropped his schoolbag beside the straight backed chair and sat down.

'There,' said Umbridge sweetly, we're getting better at controlling our temper already, aren't we? Now, you are going to be doing some lines for me, Mr Potter. No, not with your quill,' she added, as Harry bent down to open his bag. 'You're going to be using a rather special one of mine. Here you are.'

She handed him a long, thin black quill with an usually sharp point. 'I want you to write, I must not tell lies,' she told him softly.

'How many times?' Harry asked, with a creditable imitation of politeness.

'Oh, as long as it takes for the message to sink in,' said Umbridge sweetly. 'Off you go.'

She moved over to her desk, sat down and bent over a stack of parchment that looked like essays for marking. Harry raised his sharp black quill, then realised what was missing.

'You haven't given me any ink,' he said.

'Oh, you won't need ink,' said professor Umbridge, with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice.

Harry placed the point of the quill on the paper and wrote: I must not tell lies.

He let out a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shinning red ink. At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of Harry's right hand, cut into his skin as though traced there by a scalpel – yet even as he stared at the shining cut, the skin healed over again, leave the place where it had been slightly redder than before but quite smooth.

Harry looked around at Umbridge. She was watching him, her wide, toadlike mouth stretched in a smile.

'Yes?'

'Nothing,' said Harry quietly.

He looked back at the parchment, placed the quill on it once more, wrote I must not tell lies, and felt the searing pain on the back of his hand for a second time; once again the words had been cut into his skin; once again they healed over seconds later.

And on it went. Again and again Harry wrote the words on the parchment in what he soon come to realise was not ink, but his own blood. And, again and again, the words were cut into the back of his head, healed, and reappeared the next time he set quill to parchment.

Darkness fell outside Umbridge's window. Harry did not ask when he would be allowed to stop. He did not even check his watch. He knew she was watching him for signs of weakness and he was not going to show any, not even if he had to sit there all night, cutting open his own hand with this quill…

'Come here,' she said, after what seemed hours.

He stood up. His hand was stinging painfully. When he looked down at it he saw that the cut had healed, but that the skin there was raw.

'Hand,' she said.

He extended it. She took it in her own. Harry repressed a shudder as she touched him with her thick, stubby fingers on which she wore a number of ugly old rings.

'Tut, tut, it don't seem to have made much of an impression yet,' she said smiling. 'Well, we'll just have to try again tomorrow evening, won't we? You may go.'

Harry left her office without a word. The school was quite deserted; it was surely past midnight. He walked slowly up the corridor, then, when he had turned the corner and was sure she would not hear him, broke into a run.

Harry never got a chance to speak with anyone the following day, not that he really wanted to. But it was during dinner when he was asked what he had to do for Umbridge, Harry said he had to write lines, he never elaborated further.

'At least it's only lines,' said Hermione consolingly, as Harry sank back to his bench and looked down at his steak and kidney pie, which he no longer fancied very much. He didn't want to say anything to Hermione, he wasn't in the best of moods, not after the previous night and his so called detention, which Harry secretly called his torture session. If he did say something he was worried he would end up yelling at Hermione, he had to keep calm and his real feelings to himself.

'It's not as if it's a dreadful punishment, really…'

Harry opened his mouth, closed it again and nodded. Calm Harry, keep it together. Harry kept this thought in his head. He knew why he wasn't telling Ron what had taken place in Umbridge's office, his friend would rant and rave then want to hex her. Harry smiled at the thought of his friend defending him. Hermione however would want Harry to tell the headmaster. Harry figured the so called headmaster knew, as he seemed to know everything that went on inside the castle. But Harry felt that this was between himself and Umbridge, a private battle of wills, and he was not going to give her the satisfaction of hearing that he had complained about it, which he wouldn't.

The second detention was just as bad as the previous one. The skin on the back of Harry's hand became irritated more quickly now and was soon red and inflamed. Harry thought it unlikely that it would keep healing as effectively for long. Soon the cut would remain etched into his hand and Umbridge would, perhaps, be satisfied. He let no gasp of pain escape him, however, and from the moment of entering the room to the moment of his dismissal, again past midnight, he said nothing but good evening and goodnight.

His homework situation, however, was now desperate, and when he returned to the Gryffindor common room he did not, though exhausted, go to bed, but opened his books and began Snape's moonstone essay. It was half past two by the time he finished it. He knew he had done a poor job, but there was no help for it; unless he had something to give in he would be in detention with Snape next. He then dashed off answers to the questions Professor McGonagall had set them, cobbled together something on the proper handling of bow truckles for Professor Grubbly-Plank, and staggered up to bed, where he fell fully clothed on top of the covers and fell asleep immediately.


	3. Chapter 3

Spoilers: some parts from this story are from Harry potter and the order of the phoenix, owned by JK Rowling. I make no money on this story, I just play around with the characters.

Chapter three

Thursday passed in a haze of tiredness. Ron seemed very sleepy too, though Harry could not see why he should be. Harry's third detention passes in the same way as the previous two, except that after two hours the words I must not tell lies did not fade from the back of Harry's hand, but remained scratched there, oozing droplets of blood. The pause in the pointed quill's scratching made Professor Umbridge look up.

'Ah,' she said softly, moving around the desk to examine his hand herself. 'Good, that ought to serve as a reminder to you, oughtn't it? You may leave for tonight.'

'Do I still have to come back tomorrow?' asked Harry picking up his schoolbag with his left hand rather than his smarting right one.

'Oh yes,' said professor Umbridge, smiling as widely as before. 'Yes, I think we can etch the message a little deeper with another evening's work.'

Harry had never before considered the possibility that there might be another teacher in the world he hated more than Snape, but as he walked back towards Gryffindor tower he had to admit he had found a strong contender. She's evil, he thought, as he climbed a staircase to the seventh floor, she's an evil, twisted, mad old –

'Ron?'

He had reached the top of the stairs, turned right and almost walked into Ron, who was lurking behind a statue of Lachlan the Lanky, clutching his broomstick. He gave a great leap of surprise when he saw Harry and attempted to hide his new clean sweep eleven behind his back.

'What are you doing?'

'Err – nothing. What are you doing?'

Harry frowned at him, 'Come on, you can tell me! What are you hiding here for?'

'I'm – I'm hiding from Fred and George, if you must know,' said Ron, 'They just past with a bunch of first years, I bet they're testing stuff on them again. I mean, they can't do it in the common room now, can they, not with Hermione there.'

He was talking in a very fast, feverish way.

'But what have you got your broom for, you haven't been flying, have you?' Harry asked.

'I – well – well, okay, I'll tell you, but don't laugh, all right?' Ron said defensively, turning redder with every second. 'I – I thought I'd try out for the Gryffindor keeper now I've got a decent broom. There. Go on. Laugh.'

'I'm not laughing,' said Harry. Ron blinked. 'It's a brilliant idea! It'd be really cool if you got on the team! I've never seen you play keeper, are you good?'

'I'm not bad,' said Ron, who looked immensely relieved at Harry's reaction. 'Charlie, Fred and George always made me keep for them when they were training during the holidays.'

'So you've been practicing tonight?'

'Every evening since Tuesday…just on my own, though. I've been trying to bewitch a quaffle to fly at me, but it hasn't been easy and I don't know how much use it'll be.' Ron looked nervous and anxious. 'Fred and George are going to laugh themselves stupid when I turn up for tryouts. They haven't stopped taking the mickey out of me since I got made a prefect.'

'I wish I was going to be there,' said Harry bitterly, as they set off together towards the common room.

When they stepped into the Gryffindor common room they found only a handful of students. Harry saw the rubbish and could tell Hermione had once again placed hats under it for the elves.

'I believe it's time Hermione had a lesson.'

'What are you on about Harry?'

'Her and the hats, it's not going to work, just wait,' Harry looked around, 'Hey, Angelina, can you tell Hermione I need to speak with her for a minute?'

'Sure Harry.'

'Let me just stick my broom in the room.'

'Here,' Harry held out his hand, Ron handed him the broom then Harry flicked his wand at it, 'It's on your bed.'

'When did you learn the banishing charm?'

'Not long after learning the summoning charm. Oh here she comes,' Harry gestured towards the stairs that led the girls dormitory.

'How was detention Harry?'

'Fine, but these hats you make, there is two things I need to say, one because you haven't bothered learning yourself. First though, do you realise that Dobby is ending up exhausted because of you?'

'What do you mean? I have never asked any elf to do a thing.' Hermione huffed.

'The other house elves refuse to clean Gryffindor tower, our clothes, bathrooms, all of it because of your blasted hats. Dobby has, only because he likes me, he doesn't want me to have dirty clothes or have no clean towels.'

'Then you can clean your own clothes, I don't see a problem.'

'Hermione, no student are allowed into the laundry, only the house elves can. You're trying to get every student suspended by saying that. So even though we can't get in, you're telling us to do something that against the rules.'

'I'm sure you are exaggerating,' Hermione scowled.

Harry flicked his wand, a small book landed in his hand, he thrust it at Hermione with a glare.

'Read it for yourself. If you keep going I'm going to have to take some of what little money I have to pay Winky to help Dobby, which means I won't be able to get my books for next year. But you probably like the idea I won't be able to learn, then I'll end up in more detentions. Now, next, do you know that only the headmaster can dismiss a house elf? The students are just that, students, they do not have the right to order a house elf to do anything, they can ask a house elf but not order them. The headmaster on the other hand is the only one inside this castle that can free a house elf. Do you know Dumbledore offered to free them all, pay then, give them days off? They refused, every single one. He tries every year, telling them they can stay at Hogwarts, they would just be free, they refuse. You, Hermione, you are not the owner so you cannot free a house elf, not one. All you've done is wear Dobby out. I literally had to carry him down to the kitchens last night, he was so tired. He hadn't slept in days because he's had to do everything inside these rooms since you started trying to trick them. How would you like it if I tricked you?'

'None are free?' Hermione whispered.

'I give up, you just won't listen, You believe you are right about everything when you're not. And another thing, I'm sick to death of your fucking attitude. You might not have been raised in this world, like me, but you need to adapt to it or you are not going to last in this world. From now on I want you to stay away from me, you and your stupid fucking ideas,' Harry growled, he shocked everyone in the common room, Ron stared wide eyed at his mate, but so were the other students.

Harry turned and walked calmly up the stairs, it took a few minutes before Ron followed.

'What was that about?' Ron asked cautiously.

'It's been building since we became friends with her. I just can't handle her anymore and I can't stand the way she believes she knows what's best for me, it pisses me off. I know you fancy her Ron, sorry, but I just can't be friends with her anymore.'

'I don't fancy her,' Ron's face was flaming with embarrassment.

Harry smiled, 'I've known you have for a couple of years, I think others have realised as well. Don't worry, no one will say anything, but you should. I just can't be anywhere near her, not now, not ever, I've had enough.'

'Okay, I know she gets bossy, but that can't be all, surely?'

'It's been a lot of things Ron, I don't want to get into all of it, but she went behind my back and told McGonagall about my detentions. I said it would do no good and I was right, all she said was keep my head down and stay out of trouble. Hermione just doesn't get it, the teachers won't do anything, they never have, but she will never believe they would ignore a student being hurt, by anyone.'

'The Dursley's?' Ron whispered.

'She doesn't believe it, she thinks I'm exaggerating just because I want to live with Sirius. Okay, yes I would like to get to know my godfather, who wouldn't. But she downright told me to stop lying about what I said about those muggles. It's like she believes all that shit, that I only want attention and it's pissed me off so much I want to hex her mouth shut.'

'I never knew she thought you lied. Fred, George and I know the truth, we told her that summer.'

Harry sighed, 'I know, that's when I said to keep it to yourselves; that it wouldn't help. I have two years, well, two summers left with them then I'm gone. I don't care if Voldemort is waiting in the street, I will just walk out the door. Anyway, I'm going to shower, clean up a bit,' Harry grabbed his pyjama pants and headed into the boys bathroom.

Harry never told anyone what he planned, he knew he couldn't return to them, Vernon was becoming worse with each beating, but Harry would be made to return. Harry also had a feeling that if he stayed at Hogwarts over the holidays then he would be at Umbridge's mercy again. So Harry had to work on his plan before the holidays, he thought the sooner the better.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

Harry waited for two weeks, ignoring Hermione no matter how many times she tried to talk to him. One time she kept on Harry that he flicked his wand, placing her under a full body bind, then levitated her out of the Gryffindor common room to shocked silence. He left her in the transfiguration classroom then went back to his homework. Harry knew a lot of Gryffindor's don't like Hermione either, they just put up with her.

'Where did you take her?' Ron asked wearily.

'She's out of the way, for a while.'

'Harry,' Ron glared.

'Fine, she's in the transfiguration classroom. If you bring her back then I will not talk to you either,' Harry packed up his stuff then headed up to his bed. He spelled the curtains around his bed and waited to see if anything would happen.

It was only half an hour later Harry heard McGonagall's voice, so he opened the curtain.

'Yes Professor.'

'What you did to Miss Granger is unacceptable, twenty points from Gryffindor and a week's detention with me, starting tomorrow night.'

'Sorry, I can't make it,' Harry held up his hand, showing his scared hand, 'Umbridge beat you to it. Maybe you can duel each other to see which one can make my life even more miserable,' Harry yanked the curtains back before she could say anything then he turned on his side, but the curtains were pulled aside.

'What was that on your hand?'

'So now you're going to act like you care even when you were told,' Harry growled then pulled the curtains around him again, 'I don't need anyone.'

Harry heard a few whispers then footsteps, he had a feeling McGonagall was talking to Ron about his hand. He didn't care, that would be taken care of soon enough.

Harry forced himself to stay awake, he waited until one in the morning. He took his cloak, snuck out of the dormitory and hurried out of Gryffindor tower. He got to the secret passage way, practically ran along it until he came to the basement of Honeydukes. Harry quickly cast his glamour charms, making himself slightly taller, red hair, his nose was huge compared to what it normally looks like, then he cast the spell to give him perfect eyesight for the next two hours. Harry loved that spell and wished it was permanent. Harry then transfigured his clothes to look like normal blue jeans and a jacket.

Harry called the night bus, he got off a few streets away from where he needed to go, to Privet drive. Harry used his cloak then walked quickly through the streets until he got to number four, the house he lived in yet never once thought of as a home.

Harry took out the wand, a wand that was not his holly wand. He had found his parent's wands in his vault and kept them on him in case anything happened to his wand. He also found out that the moment you buy your wand, it's registered at the ministry. His parent's wands were no longer registered, that happens when a witch or wizard turns seventeen. So he used his mother's wand and levitated himself up so he could cast his spells, two were sleeping in one room and one in another room. He levitated himself over the fence then sealed the windows so they could not be opened, then sealed the back door and the small door to the garage. But the sealing charm he used would only last an hour so he wouldn't need to hang around to remove the charm when someone wanted to get in.

Harry went back to the front then did the same with the windows and the roller door. He stood at the opened front door, then cast his spell, magical fire shot up the stairs, Harry directing it with his mind. Then Harry shot magical fire towards the living room and down the small hall past the cupboard under the stairs. He closed and sealed the door then moved back to the other side of the road. No one knew that Harry had been able to work wandless magic. It had taken him the last two years but now he could do anything wandless. He always planned to deal with the Dursley's, one way or another and now no one could prove it was him since he wasn't using a wand. He didn't care that this was basically murder, after all the times he had been beaten and starved by the Dursley's he thought they were getting off easy. He had used the wand first as using wandless magic tired him out. A sealing spell wouldn't get him into trouble if anyone did find his mother's wand, but he didn't want to use dark magic with a wand which would get him sent straight to Azkaban, so wandless magic was needed.

Harry wanted to make sure his fire engulfed the house before leaving. It only took a minute before the whole house were alight. Harry turned and hurried away as fast as he could but he made sure his cloak covered every part of him.

He called the night bus again and headed back to Hogsmeade but made sure he told them it was further along. He jogged back to Honeydukes, crept back into the now unlocked shop, locked the door behind him then headed for the tunnel. Once he was at the end of the tunnel, he removed the glamour before climbing out and quietly made his way back to Gryffindor tower.

Harry removed that memory, placing it in a vial and hid it in his secret compartment in his trunk; that would only open with his blood and a password in parseltongue. But unless you knew there was a secret compartment you would never see it. The memory might be still in his head but unless someone like a mind healer looked into his mind they would never find it. He changed into his pyjama pants, looked at his watch when he crawled into bed, nearly four o'clock in the morning.

Very soon it will be time to make it look like he wasn't well. He had taken one of the twins new products, something that could give him a fever for at least twenty four hours, but he also cast a spell on his cut hand. He knew the matron of Hogwarts would heal it, so making sure it was infected which would work on his story, that he wasn't well.

Harry groaned when he heard his name being called, he ignored them, just quickly popped the sweet into his mouth, chewed a few times then swallowed. Harry groaned again, this time louder, but stayed curled up on his side.

'Harry,' Ron asked cautiously as he glanced down at his friend, 'are you okay?'

'No, go away,' he felt a hand on his forehead, 'Go away.'

'You're burning up, hang on,' Ron ran down the stairs, 'Harry's burning up professor, he doesn't look good.'

Minerva who had been waiting for Harry to tell him some bad news raced up the stairs.

'Mr Potter.'

'Go away.'

'Tell me what's wrong?'

'Hot, sick, sore,' Harry groaned again.

'When did you first notice the symptoms?'

'Yesterday, that's why I came to bed early.'

'I'm going to levitate you into the Gryffindor fireplace, I'm taking you to the hospital wing. Mr. Weasley, please go down to the great hall and inform Professor Dumbledore that Mr. Potter is ill, extremely ill.'

'Yes, Professor.'

'Try not to move Potter,' Minerva only heard a groan but she levitated her student down the stairs and into the fireplace, 'Hospital wing,' the fire turned green and sent them on their way.

Ron raced into the great hall, skidded to a halt in front of the headmaster, but he was out of breath.

'Take some calming deep breaths Mr Weasley then tell me what is wrong.'

Ron slowed his breathing, took a couple of great gulps of air, 'Harry's sick, really sick, Professor McGonagall has taken him to the hospital wing. He was burning up.'

'Thank you, you eat breakfast before trying to visit your friend,' Albus hurried from the hall ignoring Dolores who was trying to tell him she still expected Potter for his detention that night.

Albus stepped into the room and saw Minerva who looked worried, 'How is Harry?'

'His hand is infected Albus, he has a very high fever, yet he feels cold and clammy. His body is shaking so much it was making his teeth chatter.'

'What is wrong with his hand Poppy?'

'I think you should see for yourself.'

Albus looked confused but stepped over to the bed, 'Is that words carved into his hand.'

'Yes, I must not tell lies, they have been carved in his hand by a blood quill.'

'A blood quill,' Minerva squeaked, 'He said something last night about his hand, but I could not see it before he turned on his side. Albus, she cannot get away with using a dark artifact on a student.'

'I will see to it, but it might not be seen to straight away. She is after all here for Cornelius. I will use my contacts to get this investigated. Poppy, take some pictures of his hand, but in no uncertain terms is Harry allowed to leave this hospital until I tell you he can, even if it takes a week. If Dolores asks why, make something up.'

'Of course, headmaster,' Poppy smirked then went back to treating her patient as Albus left.

'I went to see him this morning with some bad news.'

'Bad news?' asked Poppy.

'Yes, his family perished in a fire last night, a magical fire. Albus believes it was you-know-who and his supporters,' Minerva looked curiously at the matron who didn't seem to think this was bad news, 'Poppy.'

'I could never find any proof and Mr potter would never confide in me. But I believed he has been subjected to some…well, let's just say harsh punishment, muggle style.'

'Tell me what you've found?'

'Bruises, cuts, broken ribs, he told me it was because of quidditch; that he fell from his broom.'

'Apart from the dementors, Harry has never fallen from a broom.'

'I did not believe it either.'

'I will speak with him.'

'Will it really be necessary to cause him embarrassment, they died, it's not like he can return there.'

'I suppose you are right, now we will need to find somewhere for Harry to stay. Without the blood wards he will be vulnerable,' Minerva sighed, she knew Sirius would love to take Harry and the house was under the fidelius charm. It would be safe for Harry to stay there, safer than anywhere else. She would need to speak with Albus later, see if he will allow the boy to stay with his godfather. If Dolores isn't dealt with in time she did not want Harry to remain at Hogwarts.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

Harry woke late that night, he did feel terrible, but not as much as everyone believed. He saw curtains around his bed and noticed his clothes were in the small cupboard, along with his wand and invisibility cloak. Harry went to sleep last night with them on him, he needed the cloak with him or he could get caught. He checked his watch to see that it was three in the morning. He had slept the full day, due to his little night time excursion to Little Whinging. He figured it was a good time to sneak out, first he had to make sure that Pomfrey did not charm him or his bed to alert her that he was out of it.

Harry got out slowly, he never heard anything but made it seem like he was heading to the bathroom. He stood just inside the door for a few minutes, he even flushed the toilet and washed his hands in case she was there and heard the water. When he stepped out all was quiet, so he grabbed his cloak, went into the office, cast a sleeping charm on the matron to make sure she never figured out that Harry was out of bed. Once that was done he hurried from the hospital.

The following morning, just as the sun was coming up Harry heard footsteps, 'Ah, Mr Potter, good, you're awake. Tell me how you feel?'

'Still hot and my hand stings.'

'It was infected, the potions I gave you last night will work, it just takes time. Do you feel up to eating?'

Harry shook his head, 'No, my stomach feels terrible.'

'Then we will leave it for a few hours, if by then it hasn't settled I will give you another potion.'

'When can I leave?'

'Not for a while, so get comfortable,' Poppy was used to Harry asking to leave, this time he would not be going anywhere, at least not for a few days. She was not going to allow her patient anywhere near that woman.

It was about an hour later that Harry looked up as he heard footsteps approach, the headmaster and McGonagall stepped around the curtain.

'How do you feel Potter?' asked Minerva.

'A little better, but still hot. I'm sorry about yelling, I wasn't feeling the best.'

'Apology accepted, though I believe you owe Miss Granger an apology.'

'I will, won't change my mind about her though.'

'Harry, we have some bad news.'

Harry looked at the headmaster, he made sure he looked anxious, 'Is everyone alright?'

'If you mean your friends…and snuffles, yes, they are fine, worried about you, naturally.'

'Oh good,' Harry sagged in relief.

'It's about your aunt, uncle and cousin.'

'Oh, what about them?' Harry's voice hardened.

'I take it you did not get on?'

Harry scoffed, 'They hate me and take great pleasure in telling me how useless I am, not to mention how much of a freak I am, how my father was a drunk and my mother was a whore.'

'Then I apologise for not speaking with them, they should not have said any of that to you. But now, even though you do not seem to care for them, they were your family. They were killed the other night.'

'Okay,' Harry shrugged.

'Do you feel anything for them Harry?'

'Extreme dislike sir, I can't pretend I'm sorry when I'm not. I like to believe actions have consequences, maybe it's just fate, like karma, maybe it was my parents.'

'I will assume you do not wish to attend the funeral?'

'No, I would be a hypocrite if I did sir, best if I stay away. Um, so what happens now, where am I to go?'

'I am still working on that. With Voldemort back and you his main target I will need to find someone who can protect you.'

'Why can't I stay with snuffles? The house is under the fidelius charm, it's safe enough there, especially with the order popping in and out.'

'It is an idea I have, we have some time.'

'But I don't want to stay here over the holidays, not with…um, Umbridge.'

'I hope within the next few days that she will no longer be at Hogwarts. That is another reason I need to speak with you. Until she has finally been removed I want you to remain in the hospital. Poppy as the rights over her patients, she can even overrule me if she believes it's necessary. Dolores cannot make you leave if Poppy says otherwise.'

'Oh, okay, thanks sir, but can I get Ron to bring my books and homework, I don't want to fall behind?'

'I will have Mr. Weasley bring everything you need,' said Minerva.

'Thanks professor. What was that thing she made me use to write with?'

'It's called a blood quill, a banned dark artifact. Two hundred years ago they were used quite often and legally as well. People would sign contract with them, blood being powerful would make the contract binding, no matter what.'

'So she goes on about liars and following the ministry's rules and has a dark object in her possession,' Harry growled as he rubbed his hand.

'Yes, and as far as the minister is concerned she can do what she deems necessary. I have spoken with a few contacts I know inside the ministry, they are working, quietly to have her arrested. I ask you not to mention that to anyone, not even to your friends. They will find out after she is gone.'

'I promise I won't sir. Will this always remain?' Harry sighed as he stared down at the words carved into his hand.

'It will fade over time, but because of how often you were forced to use a blood quill some scarring will remain, unfortunately. We'll let you rest now Harry, feel better soon.'

'Thanks,' Harry gave his two professor's a smile then waited until they left. He knew Dumbledore was acting nice, but Harry still didn't trust the man, he didn't even like the man but he had to keep up his act that he did. Harry thought that at least the old man might finally be doing something this time, not like over the last few years.

Harry knew it was early but he was wondering when Umbridge would be discovered and if someone would come tell him, like Ron.

It was right after breakfast that Ron and Ginny stepped into the hospital wing, 'Hey Harry.'

'Hey.'

'You scared the shit out of me, you looked like you were on death's door.'

'I felt like it, my hand was infected which caused me to have a high temperature, it must have been bad, I slept all of yesterday and all night. I have to stay for a few days, McGonagall said she will give you my books, homework and stuff.'

'I'll bring them up later, but we did pop in yesterday, the dragon lady said you were sleeping and made us leave.'

'You look pale Harry, how do you feel?'

'I'm okay, Ginny. Oh but I have news, I suppose it's not nice news but I can't help feeling relieved.'

'Is she going to be punished, sacked, hopefully?'

'No, the Dursley's were killed, I have a feeling that Dumbledore believes it was Voldemort.'

'Oh merlin, it's lucky you weren't there then.'

'Yeah, but he would know I was here, so I think it's a message, like look how easy I can find you,' Harry shrugged.

'So where will you live?' Ginny asked.

'Dumbledore is working on it, but I'm hoping I can stay with Sirius. Think about it, it's the headquarters of the order of the phoenix, it's under the fidelius charm and the order are always popping in there. It's the safest place apart from Hogwarts. No one can even talk about it, I mean we can because we've all be there, we've been given permission.'

'True, so maybe you will get to live with your godfather,' said Ron.

'That's what I'm hoping.'

'Did you really tell Hermione off?' Ginny asked.

'Yeah, I've held my tongue for so long, I just couldn't take her anymore.'

'Well, to be honest, I only spoke to her because she friends with you and Ron. I can't stand her, neither can anyone else.'

'I know, I've see the looks she received. I did try to tell her back in second year to stop going on about homework and grades, that it just annoys everyone. I also told her how if she keeps telling everyone she's always right, will not sit well with some, that peeved off a lot of people. She could not believe everyone could do their best without her help, not matter what. They do their work but they don't want to be nagged about it. I get that people like to do their best and they should, but her nagging made it hard to do my work. She just pissed everyone off. It was more than that; it was partly the way she spoke to people though, she spoke down to them, like she was better than everyone else. I'd like to tell her that my mother happened to get the highest score in her N.E.W.T.s than any other student, even over Dumbledore. Yet from what Sirius and Remus said she never went on about it and was liked by everyone, she was never arrogant and would help anyone with their homework but only if they asked. If they didn't it wouldn't concern her, she said if people wanted to do badly or fail then that was there choice.'

'Then maybe I can find that information on your mother and make sure she see's it,' Ginny smirked making Harry laugh.

'Sorry Ron, but can't you see how unpopular she is and she's brought it on herself?'

'I know,' Ron sighed.

'Imagine Ron, if you two got together she would be telling you how to live, what to eat, how to dress. You wouldn't want to live like that, would you?' asked Ginny.

'No, I wouldn't, just give me some time okay.'

'Okay, we promise to keep our opinions to ourselves from now on.'

'Mr. Potter, do you think you could eat now?'

'Um, yeah, but not much, something light, maybe some fruit.'

'Alright, I will send for a house elf to bring you a plate of mixed fruit.'

'So you weren't hungry?' asked Ron.

'No, my stomach wasn't up to food before, it's better now, so it's fine.'

'You still don't look the best,' Ginny said.

'I'm a bit weak, I went to the loo before, thought my legs were going to give out. So resting here isn't that bad even though I would prefer the dorm room.'

'Then we'll let you eat and rest, but we'll visit later,' Ginny gave Harry a hug then left with Ron. Harry was pleased Ginny had gotten over her crush, now they were good friends.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

It was late in the afternoon, Harry was dozing when he heard voices, whispers, he realised it was Ron, Ginny and the twins. They were talking about what they had been told after their breakfast, Umbridge was found dead in her room. When she didn't turn up for the staff meeting that was set for before breakfast, Dumbledore had one of the house elves check on her.

Harry decided to make it look like he was asleep, but he could tell the Weasley's had come closer.

'Who do you think did it?' Ginny whispered.

'Anyone really, no one liked her,' Fred or George was speaking, Harry couldn't tell.

'Has others had detentions with her, like Harry has?' Ron asked.

'Not that we know of,' one of the twins said.

'Wasmatter,' Harry murmured.

'Sorry Harry, we didn't mean to wake you.'

'S'fine,' Harry pushed himself up, 'What's going on?'

'Um, well,' Ron looked at the twins for help.

'Dumbledore made an announcement after breakfast this morning,' Fred said.

'After Ginny and I spoke to you,' Ron shrugged.

'What about?'

'Umbridge,' George said.

'Did they arrest her?'

'No, were they going to?' Ginny asked.

'Dumbledore and McGonagall said she might be, that they were talking to people in secret, about having her arrested without Fudge knowing. They found out about my hand. He told me not to say anything.'

'Ron told us about your hand mate, she's a right bitch,' Fred said.

'Was a bitch,' George said.

'Was, what's going on?'

'She's dead mate, she was found in her room, her throat was cut,' Fred said.

'Dumbledore didn't say anything about her throat but we were able to find out,' George said.

'Well, I can't feel sorry for her, not after what she did.'

'No, we can't either, but the aurors are investigating,' Ginny said.

'Who are they investigating, the teachers?'

'Everyone, Fudge has ordered them to question everyone. There are ten aurors here so every hour or so the students get called, one by one,' Fred said.

'Yeah, but the staff will be with us to make sure we're not being harassed,' George said.

'Then let's hope they find this person…and give them a medal,' Harry said trying not to smile.

'Don't say that when they interview you,' Ron said.

'But I've been stuck in this bed with Madam Pomfrey watching me, how could I be a suspect?'

'It doesn't matter, they are going to question everyone,' Ginny said.

'Well, it's fine I suppose, it's not like I have anything to hide. But she broke the law, now it's like they're sweeping that under the rug, or Fudge is.'

'Listen, we had an idea, but we wanted to ask you first,' Fred said.

'Yeah, we wouldn't do it if you said no,' George said.

'What?'

'We get everyone we know to write to our families,' Fred said.

'Tell them what she did to you, making you use a blood quill for hours every night for a full week.'

'Harry, if everyone find out what she did and that Fudge is the one that put her here then he could get into trouble and he should,' Ginny said.

'It's all to get you to shut up about you-know-who. This will look bad for him but maybe it will have people believe you and Dumbledore,' Ron said.

'Um,' Harry stared down at his hand which was still red and a bit swollen, 'I suppose.'

'He refuses to believe you and Dumbledore about you-know-who, this will make him look bad,' Ron said.

'Yeah, it would, okay, see if it will help.'

'Great, we'll go spread the word now, get our letters sent as soon as possible,' George said.

'You know mum will go nuts when she hears, she thinks of you as one of her own,' Fred said.

'I like your mum, even when she gets fussy and a bit overbearing, but it's nice, I've never had anyone care before.'

'Mum knows, that's why she coddles you more,' Ron rolled his eyes making Harry chuckle, 'Anyway, I brought your school bag and homework from each of the teachers.'

'But I was only staying here because Dumbledore wanted to keep Umbridge away from me, so did McGonagall. I could probably leave tonight, if not in the morning.'

'Stay, at least for a bit longer, it looks good if you're still in here,' Ginny said.

'I suppose, as long as you lot visit, Neville and Luna as well.'

'We'll tell them,' Ron put Harry's bag on the bed, 'We better go, it's getting late.'

'Okay, keep me informed, yeah.'

'Yeah,' Ron nodded, then followed his brothers and sister out of the hospital. Within minutes a food tray appeared on the table, his dinner had arrived, so Harry pulled it towards him and started to eat.

'How do you feel Potter?'

'Um, a bit better, my hand still stings a bit, but not bad. Do I still have to stay?'

'Yes, at least until tomorrow, but I will wait to see what the headmaster thinks.'

'They told me about Umbridge.'

'Yes, so even though you were here and I saw you every few hours, you will also be questioned, all of us will.'

'None of the teachers would do this, well, maybe Snape, but no one else. I don't get why you're all be questioned.'

'I'll ignore the comment about Professor Snape. But it's widely known that none of us approved of that…woman.'

'No one liked her, she was making it impossible for us to learn enough to take our O.W.L.s. Maybe it was a Ravenclaw, they love to learn,' Harry grinned.

'Behave Mr. Potter and keep those comments to yourself.'

'I promise, so is it alright to do my homework, I'm not tired?'

'You did sleep a lot, so yes, but only a few hours at most.'

Harry pulled out his charms book to see what he had to do, the banishing charm which he already knew.

'Well, I can at least read up on it then write it out, but add how it feels when casting it,' Harry flipped the pages of his charms book until he found the charm.

The following morning Harry woke to the sound of voices down near the door. He couldn't see who it was with the screen around his bed. He sat up, swung his legs out of the bed and headed to the bathroom.

When Harry returned the screen around his bed was gone and he saw the headmaster, McGonagall, Pomfrey, Kingsley and a man he didn't know standing near his bed, the curtains were gone.

'Um, is this about Umbridge?'

'I assume Mr Weasley told you,' Albus said.

'Yes, the twins, Ginny and Ron told me yesterday.'

'These are aurors Harry, they will be questioning you about your detentions with Dolores.'

'We also have to question you under veritaserum,' the man said.

'That is impossible, Mr. Potter is allergic to dandelion root which is one of the main ingredients in veritaserum. The last time he had a potion with that ingredient he almost died,' poppy said.

'I did not know that Mr. Potter,' Minerva said.

'I asked Madam Pomfrey not to tell anyone, but I had to promise to never take a potion until I made sure what the ingredients were.'

'Very wise,' Albus said.

'Then we can use legilimency,' the man said.

'No, I had to learn to block my mind from intrusion since Voldemort keeps popping into my head. I can't lower my shields because the pain gets to intense and my scar bleeds.'

'Without consent by Harry then you cannot use legilimency, so just question him. We already know he is innocent since he was here the whole time, ill.'

'I checked on Mr. Potter every few hours, right through the night. He never left his bed, he slept the whole night,' Poppy said stiffly.

'Harry,' Kingsley smiled down at him, 'were you angry about what she did?'

'Well, yeah, she forced me to cut into my hand, then it got infected.'

'Did you want to hurt her for that?'

'To be honest, yes, but I didn't want to get in trouble. Not after I had to face the Wizengamot for saving my own life when dementors turned up. It's like before second year, a house elf used magic in my muggle relatives house but I was blamed, no one even asked me what happened. I was threatened with being expelled, so I try not to get into trouble, if I can help it. But I wouldn't have killed her, I can't kill anyone, I can't even kill a spider. Even when Voldemort used the killing curse again all I did was use the disarming charm. You don't think I did it, do you?'

'I do not, but it was the way she was killed. Magic wasn't used and sorry to say, you were raised by muggles.'

'So were all the muggleborns.'

'Yes, we know, but as I said, I don't think you did it, it's not in your nature.'

'You can't know that Shacklebolt, you never met Potter before now.'

'I happen to have spent a great deal of time with Harry,' Kingsley glared at the man, 'I was his guard to escort him from his muggle relatives place to take him to the headmaster.'

'I need someone I could trust, so asked auror Shacklebolt if he would be part of Harry's guard right after the dementor incident.'

'I spoke with Harry quite often over the following weeks. I knew Lily Potter, Harry is very much like her, he would never hurt anyone.'

'I wouldn't, but there's been enough death, I can't be involved in more, not after Voldemort killed Cedric,' Harry looked down and started to twist his hands.

'It's fine Potter, calm down,' Poppy patted his shoulder, 'Maybe a calming draught.'

'No, I'm fine.'

'You are far from fine Mr. Potter. Are you two done? Harry should be resting,' Minerva glared at the other auror.

'Were done, rest Harry,' Kingsley gave him a smile then gestured for his partner to move away. At first he kept glaring down at Harry until Dumbledore, McGonagall and Poppy pointed their wands at him.

'Thanks, but why did he act like that?'

'He is one that supports the minister. Rest Harry, we will get to the bottom of this.'

Harry nodded then moved down into the bed, he allowed the matron to fix his blankets before he turned on his side. A smile spread over his face at the thought of that bitch being dead. When he was younger he never believed he could hurt anyone, let alone kill them. But after the Dursley's treatment for years and all the danger at Hogwarts, now Voldemort, Harry knew he had to step up. No more being the passive one, it was time to use any means necessary to survive, he just couldn't let anyone know how far he was willing to go.

While Harry was lying in the bed, he kept thinking about what Fudge would do, he knew there was a chance that Fudge wouldn't give up trying to blame him but he would cross that bridge when the time comes. He had the teachers support, he also had a lot of the students supporting him. Some might not believe him about Voldemort, but they did know what Umbridge was like. Everyone in the castle knew what that woman was like and none of them cared that she was dead.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven

When Harry left the hospital wing he found the twins, Ron, Ginny, Lee, Neville and Luna standing together in a secluded corridor.

'What are you lot doing?'

'Harry, come here,' Ron called waving him closer.

'What?!'

'We heard they interview Hermione this morning. From what we found out she told the aurors that you got angry all the time and there were times when she was worried you were going to hurt someone,' Ginny said urgently.

'Everyone has been ignoring her and she knows it's because you said you don't like her,' Neville said.

'We think she's trying to get back at you,' Luna said.

'She said you were really angry with Umbridge because of your hand,' Ron said.

'She didn't know about my hand,' Harry growled.

'No, none of us told her, but she found out some way,' Fred said.

'We all told McGonagall Hermione is lying that she's upset that she's finally driven everyone away and she's blaming you,' George said.

'Even I told her that Harry, how it was her attitude and she looked down on everyone. McGonagall, Dumbledore, all the teachers, apart from Snape are all on your side,' Lee said.

'I could imagine what Snape would have said about me.'

'Don't worry about him, I know McGonagall will tell the aurors how he hated your father and his friends when they went to school,' Fred said.

'Anyway, we spoke with everyone and they all sent letters to their families yesterday. This morning it was like a hailstorm of owls, parents were telling their kids that they can't be alone with her and they were planning on writing to the minister,' Lee said.

'All of them threatened to sue the minister himself if any of their kids were hurt and he should be ashamed for allowing the-boy-who-lived to be tortured with a blood quill.' Neville said, 'My gran is really angry.'

Harry sighed as he looked at his friends, 'It shouldn't come down to the-boy-who-lived, it's illegal, and that's what it should come down too. But don't they know she's dead?'

'No, the aurors had Dumbledore do some type of charms, if any letter mentioned it then it was erased. The ministry want it kept quiet until they finish their interviews.'

'With all this, Fudge is trying to get support, this isn't looking good for him right now. All the teachers will tell the truth, that they would never allow anyone to use that type of punishment for detentions. Corporal punishment was banned a long time ago,' Fred said.

'Dad found out, but when he got home and read our letters. He said it took everything in him to stop mum coming to Hogwarts to throttle Umbridge, then he told her what happened,' George said.

'So even if no one is allowed to write about it, word is leaking out right now,' Ron said.

'You can never keep everyone in the dark, it's impossible.'

'Dad went to visit Mr. Lovegood this morning, tell him what he knows. He mentioned that she's dead, what she did to you and how you ended up in the hospital because your hand was infected and that you were still unwell in the hospital at the time she was killed,' Fred said.

'Daddy said he's putting out a special edition, it will be out this evening,' Luna said.

'Let's hope it gets rid of Fudge, even if it will mean more attention,' Harry sighed.

'It'll die down,' Ginny said.

'We thought we could mention this as well,' Fred said.

'We think you should sue the ministry and the minister. He was the one who wanted her here and said she could do whatever she wanted,' George said.

'You have the right Harry, you were made to use a banded dark artifact which put you in the hospital. But it's your choice,' Lee said.

'We'll talk about, but now come on, I'm sure you're hungry,' Ron said.

Harry laughed, 'You're hungry and just using me as an excuse.'

'See, you can't fool the-boy-who-lived,' Lee smirked.

'Shut it,' Harry glared then walked off listening to them laugh, but they caught up with him. Fred slinging his arm around Harry's shoulder, 'Still trying to see if I'm gay or not?'

'Your cute, what can I say.'

Harry rolled his eyes but heard Ginny, George and Lee laugh, 'You need glasses, not me, I can give you my old ones if you want.' that comment made them all laugh again.

They walked into the great hall, Harry had heaps of kids coming up to him to ask if it was true.

'Um, is what true?'

'About your hand,' Dennis said.

Harry sighed, 'Yes, it's true, but Madam Pomfrey healed it.'

They moved to the Gryffindor table, Fred sat beside Harry with Ron on his other side, Harry laughed before he dished up some breakfast.

'I was serious before Harry, you are cute and if you work it out, I wouldn't mind being your first male snog.'

Harry blushed as he looked down at his plate, 'Um…um…okay,' he whispered.

'Snuffles did say Potter men like red heads,' Ron grinned.

'Yeah, but he thought of Potter men with girls, I'm not sure how he would take this.'

'It's not up to anyone but you Harry, you can't make yourself feel something for a girl if you like boys,' George said.

'I know, but I'm still not sure which way I turn.'

'Whether you bat for your own team or not?' Lee smirked.

'Right, whether I want a girl or Fred to…polish my wand.'

Everyone gasped then laughed, 'Now you're loosening up mate. I know for a fact Fred would love to polish…your wand,' George smirked.

'Alright, enough about my sexuality, what else has been happening?'

The group filled Harry in on what they knew or what they heard. Ron knew that Dumbledore was trying to work on where Harry could live. They all believed Harry would be safe enough with Sirius, now they just had to wait and see.

During dinner that evening the great hall was swarmed with owls, every person in the great hall had a copy of the Quibbler dropped in front of them. On the front cover were two pictures, one was a picture of Harry that only a few would recognise, it was taken at the Burrow. Harry was sitting on his broom hovering beside the Weasley boys. The second picture was of Harry in a hospital bed with his hand covered in a thick ointment, he had sweet on his forehead so you could tell he was ill. The headline said, "Torture of the-boy-who-lived, approved by the minister for magic"

'Oh merlin, this is really going to stir up a hornets nest,' Harry stared down at himself laughing with the Weasley boys, 'But who took this other picture?'

'I had Colin take it, we thought it would show how ill you were,' Ginny grinned.

Just then another owl flew down and dropped a letter in front of Harry, 'Now what?'

'Wait Mr. Potter.'

Harry and his friends looked up at the headmaster who approached, 'Is something wrong professor?'

'That is what I am about to determine,' Albus levitated the letter into the air then started to cast some spells, 'This letter has the portus charm placed on it.'

'Wwww….wwwwhat?!' Harry's whole body started to shake, 'Noooo, no, no, not again.'

Fred wrapped his arms around Harry as everyone fell silent, Albus summoned his phoenix.

'Poppy, come to the great hall, hurry. Try and calm him down Mr. Weasley.'

'Harry, you're safe, we won't let it happen again,' Fred whispered.

'Yeah mate, you're okay,' Ron said.

A few minutes later Poppy raced into the great hall, she instantly forced a potion into Harry's mouth.

'What happened?'

'Someone sent Harry a letter with a portus charm. It brought back Harry's memory of being transported to Voldemort at the end of the tournament.'

'I did say he would have episodes due to his ordeal. I am going to keep him in the hospital for another few days,' Poppy flicked her wand and a bed appeared beside her, she flicked it again and the now asleep Harry floated onto it, she levitated him out of the great hall.

'Can you tell who sent it professor?' Ginny asked sadly.

'It will take some time but I will find out. Go back to your dinner, Harry will be fine.'

'We all said Harry should not have been sent to those muggles after what happened. Mum was going off about it,' Fred said.

'So was…Snuffles,' Ron whispered, 'I've lost my appetite.'

'Let's get to the tower,' George said but he kept his hand on his twin's shoulder. As they passed Hermione who had just stood up to leave Ginny pulled her fist back and slammed it into the girl's face.

'How dare you lie about Harry you fucking bitch,' Ginny glared as everyone fell silent, some in shock at what Ginny did, some because of what she said.

Ron grabbed his sister and pulled her from the great hall with the twins, Neville, and Lee following. The last thing they need right now was any trouble, they needed to help Harry.

Albus and Minerva were watching Severus as he cast a few spells over the letter that had been sent to Harry.

'Does it have a magical signature Severus?'

'It does, not a personal one though, it came from the auror office.'

'I will floo Kingsley and Tonks, Minerva, could you please contact Alastor. If the minister is trying to get Harry to the ministry then it would be to interrogate him without a teacher present. Severus, would you please inform Poppy, ask her to put Harry in the private room and charm the door. I do not want to take the chance someone inside this school could sneak a portkey onto the boy, he is traumatised enough.'

The other two teachers left while Albus went to his fireplace to speak with two aurors he trusted. Once he was finished Albus decided to floo Sirius, he did not want Sirius to do anything foolish. If Fudge ended up losing his job because of this then maybe they could get a new minister who would believe their story about Sirius and give the man a trial.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

Kingsley, Tonks and another man stepped out of the fireplace into the headmaster's office.

'Head auror Scrimgeour believes Mr. Potter was not involved and disagrees with the way he was spoken to while ill in the hospital.'

'He had no way to commit this crime, yet he was still questioned. I'm sure the minister is the one who tried to get young Potter away from you headmaster.'

'Can you question your aurors sir?'

'I intend to.'

'How is Harry?' Tonks asked.

'Traumatised, the moment I mentioned a portkey he went into shock. I do not blame him after what happened in that graveyard.'

'If one of your aurors did this would you know why?'

'I would say Fudge ordered them to, which I will find out once I question them. Was there anything written on the letter?'

'No, it was blank,' Albus sighed then handed the head auror the parchment, 'I would like auror Tonks and auror Shacklebolt to stay as a guard for Harry, until this is cleared up.'

'That will be fine, just find them a place to sleep. I believe Fudge will use the fact that Mr. Potter's relatives died in a magical fire the night before Dolores was murdered as his argument. He still refuses to believe you-know-who has returned so he needs to put the blame on someone. I will return now to get ready to interrogate my aurors. Kingsley, Tonks, if any mail come for the boy you handle it, if anyone from the ministry arrives to try to detain Mr. Potter, stand in their way. Do whatever you need to so he can make sure he is safe and kept inside this castle.'

'Yes sir,' Tonks and Kingsley said together before their boss left.

'I will take the shift tonight, Tonks can do from four am.'

'Then I'll show you to the room you can use Dora. Kingsley, let Poppy know why you are both here.'

'Harry was inside the castle when his relatives died, then he was found with a high fever the following morning,' Tonks said as Kingsley walked off.

'He's desperate to stop Harry and me from giving out information about Voldemort. If he was able to arrest Harry he would have sent him straight to Azkaban then he would take his time to organise a trial. Imagine how Harry would be if that happened, he hears his parent's deaths whenever a dementor goes near him.'

'Blimey, I never heard that.'

'We tried to keep that information quiet, it was hard enough on Harry without everyone finding out what he went through.'

'I don't blame you, merlin what that kid has gone through, now this. Does…Snuffles know?'

'Yes, he was furious but Remus and I were able to calm him down. I will be sending Harry there for a few days, he will be protected and safe, which should give us time to find out who is involved,' Albus tapped a section of wall, a door appeared, 'Sleep well Dora.'

'Thank you sir, I will, but we will keep Harry safe.'

'I know you will.'

Tonks watched the headmaster walk off before she entered the room. She knew she needed to get some sleep so she was alert.

Kingsley finished speaking with Poppy before he set up a chair in front of the door of the private room where Harry potter lay.

Ron, Ginny, the twins, Neville and Lee saw Hermione step into the Gryffindor common room. When Ginny glared it made Hermione flinch before she turned and ran up the stairs.

'I think she tried to complain about Ginny hitting her,' Lee said.

'The teachers aren't happy with her at the moment for lying about Harry,' Ron said.

'No one is, whether they believe Harry or not about Voldemort. They know she lied because everyone knew Harry was in the hospital,' Neville said.

'They also heard about his relatives, so they felt sorry for him that he lost the last of his family,' Fred said.

'No one knows he didn't like them, well, the people who are close to Harry know the truth. But how anyone can believe he had anything to do with Umbridge when he could hardly stay awake,' George said.

'He almost collapsed going to the bathroom,' Ron said, 'We best get some sleep.'

The group broke up and headed to their rooms, Ron went straight to Harry's trunk, he took the cloak and map out.

'You're going to see Harry, aren't you?' Neville whispered.

'I just want to make sure he's okay, I won't be long.'

'I'll wait up for you, I want to know.'

Ron pulled the cloak over himself and snuck out of the tower. He used the map to make sure no teachers were around. He slipped inside the hospital to see Kingsley sitting in front of a door at the other end. Ron walked quietly down the pulled his cloak, he wasn't surprised that Kingsley knew he was there.

'I know Harry owns that cloak so when I saw the door open, I figured it was you.'

'Yeah, why are you here?'

'Albus asked the head auror for Tonks and me to be Harry's guard, we're not taking the chance that someone could slip a port key to him while he's asleep.'

'I'm glad you're here, especially after Umbridge. Any idea who done it?'

'I have a theory, I believe that someone wants to set Harry up for her murder. I think it may be you-know-who, he killed Harry's relatives then had someone inside this castle take care of Umbridge who Harry had been having detentions with.'

'Torture sessions more like it, but only a few of us knew what was going on. Harry refused to tell anyone, he said it would do no good.'

'Why would he say that?'

'Because of everything else that has happened to him. We told McGonagall about the philosophers stone, she didn't believe it was in any danger. Then the chamber of secrets, Sirius and the triwizard tournament. Harry tried to tell McGonagall about Umbridge but she didn't listen.'

'I see why he would believe that no one would listen.'

'I was going to sneak in and see how Harry was but knowing you're here already tells me. I'll get some sleep and come back in the morning.'

'Tonks will be here by then.'

'Okay, night.'

'You don't need to worry, he'll be fine, get some sleep.'

Ron nodded then slipped the cloak back over himself and quietly made his way back to Gryffindor tower.

'So, did you see him?' Neville whispered.

'I didn't need to, Dumbledore had two aurors that he trusts posted as guards. Kingsley is sitting against the door to the private room down the back and Tonks will be taking over in the morning.'

'Good, at least this time Dumbledore is doing something to stop Harry being put in danger again.'

'Yeah, he is,' Ron put the cloak and map back in Harry's trunk, changed into his pyjama's then climbed into bed. He extinguished the light just as Neville climbed into his bed.

The following morning another article appeared in the Quibbler, on the cover was a picture of Harry when he was told the letter he had received was a portkey. The writing said someone inside the ministry tried to kidnap the-boy-who-lived and the letter was sent from the auror office. The head auror is investigating right now to find out who wanted to kidnap Harry Potter and why. Most believed that you-know-who killed Harry's family and he is now trying to set the boy up for murder. Since the ministry refuses to believe the truth he is going to try and get the boy up on murder charges.

'This is going to cause more than a stir, but I like it,' Ron said giving Luna a smile, 'Tell your dad it's great and I'm sure Harry appreciates it.'

'He knows, but I will tell him Ron.'

Albus stepped into the hospital wing, he spoke with Poppy first who nodded and disappeared into her office then Albus approached Nymphadora.

'We're sneaking him out Dora, Poppy is activating her fireplace right now. I sealed the room which will give you time to levitate Harry through the fire and to headquarters. We're keeping this door locked to make everyone believe Harry is still in here.'

'Then I'll come back to stand guard, then no one will know. I'll get Harry now sir,' Tonks hurried into the room. She levitated Harry into the air then floated him out of the room and straight into the matron's office. The fireplace was ready and Poppy was standing with a bowl of floo powder in her hand.

'I will drop in later to check on him, but I sent Snuffles some more calming draught and another dreamless sleep potion.'

Tonks nodded then levitated into the fireplace, she held onto him then threw the powder, 'Headquarters of the order of the phoenix,' she disappeared in a flash of green flames.

'Tonks,' Sirius rushed over, he slipped his arms around his godson, holding him in his arms, 'I'll get him settled.'

'I'm heading back to Hogwarts to make it look like I'm still guarding him, keep us informed.'

'We will, thanks Tonks,' Remus smiled before following Sirius up the stairs and into his room, 'He'll be fine Sirius.'

'He's traumatised Remus, we don't know how this will affect him,' Sirius covered Harry up then sat on the bed beside him, 'How could anyone believe Harry would kill someone?'

'They don't, Fudge just needs someone to blame, he's looking for an easy way out. Everyone knows now he assigned Umbridge to Hogwarts and that she tortured Harry with an illegal dark artifact.'

Sirius picked up Harry's hand, staring at the words that had been carved into it with a blood quill. If Umbridge wasn't dead Sirius would have killed her then he would have landed in Azkaban but this time he would deserve it.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine

Harry blinked, then his eyes focused, he could tell he wasn't at Hogwarts, 'Nooo, no.'

'Harry, it's fine, you're with me, Sirius.'

'Sirius,' Harry sat up and threw his arms around his godfather, 'They tried to take me.'

'I know mate, but you're safe here, Albus snuck you out, Tonks brought you here this morning. We got word that Kingsley and Tonks are making it look like your still at Hogwarts and they are protecting the room in the hospital. Albus will only tell your closest friends what's going on.'

Harry slowly let his godfather go, 'Who did it, was it Voldemort?'

'No, it came from the auror office. The head auror already knows you were innocent and his seriously pissed off right now so he's questioning his aurors. He believes Fudge ordered the portkey to get you in for interrogation without any of the teachers there. If it was any other student he would never try that as he knows their parents would call for him to be arrested.'

'I want him arrested for it and I want to sue him for what Umbridge did. He told her to do what she felt was right, it's his fault.'

'Then I will get Remus to organise a lawyer, but they can't see me. We'll work it. Are you hungry?'

'A bit, thirsty as well.'

'I'll fix you something,' Remus said then hurried from the room.

'How long can I stay?'

'You're staying here from now on but right now it's just until this is sorted. Albus believes it shouldn't be more than a few days, maybe a week. The head auror is involved so it shouldn't take long.'

'Since the Dursley's were my family, guardians, what happens when something happens in the magical world, like with my trial?'

'I am legally your guardian but as they believe I'm a murderer I can't do anything. Your parents trusted Remus but because of his problem the ministry will never allow it. Maybe Albus can become your legal guardian until my name is cleared.'

'No, Sirius, I don't trust him, not after all that's happened. Could Mr. Weasley, just until your name is cleared? Or maybe Madam Pomfrey, I trust her and Mr. Weasley?'

'Let me speak with Arthur when he gets home from work.'

'Here you go,' Remus walked into the room with a tray, he placed it over Harry's legs.

'Thanks Remus,' Harry sighed, he took a drink, 'Why does everything keep happening to me?'

'I wish I knew pup, but you're safe here so eat up and relax.'

'When I heard portkey,' Harry shuddered, 'Sirius.'

'You're safe, we'll make sure you are,' Sirius sat on the bed beside Harry, he put his arm around him, 'Eat up, you'll feel better.'

'Stay with me.'

'Of course I will. Remus, can you work on a lawyer for Harry, it needs to be someone you can trust but also someone that is willing to go after the minister.'

'I'll go speak with Kingsley, he would know someone,' Remus put his hand on Harry's foot, 'We won't let anything happened to you.'

'I know, thanks,' Harry sighed again but he slowly started to eat, 'I just get out of the hospital, I thought everything was over.'

'It will be, especially with what's been printed in the Quibbler. You're friends with Xeno's daughter, aren't you?'

'Yeah, Luna, she's a bit strange, but great, there's just something about her that you can't help being drawn to.'

'Do you like her Harry?'

Harry looked down, 'Not in that way…because,' he sighed.

'Tell me.'

'You might not like me if I tell you.'

'That will never happen, you're my godson, I love you pup.'

'I'm gay,' he whispered.

'Okay, so is there a boy you like?'

Harry looked up, 'You don't mind?'

'No, of course I don't. No one knows this about me, apart from Remus, your dad did, no one else, but I'm bisexual. So you see, I've shagged girls and boys, not for a while of course. So is there some boy you like?'

'Fred,' Harry shrugged, 'he likes me too.'

'So you're together?'

Harry shook his head, 'No, I said I'm still trying to figure it out. He wants to snog me though.'

Sirius chuckled, 'He probably wants to do more than that.'

'Sirius,' Harry blushed, 'I want to snog him.'

'Then tell him or just snog him.'

'I'll see, when I get back.'

'Do you want to hear something really good?'

'Yeah.'

'Just after the letter, your friends were heading out the great hall. Well, it seems Ginny flattened Hermione, punched her right in the face, put her on her arse. Not one person went to help her.'

'Ginny's like her mum, she has a temper. Did you hear Hermione lied to the aurors, told them I get angry and she believe I could hurt someone.'

'I heard, Albus explained to the aurors why she said that, they didn't believe her, even with Snape saying you're a trouble maker.'

'I knew he would, probably all the Slytherin's will. Do you think it was Voldemort that killed the Dursley's and Umbridge?'

'Yep, he's trying to get you out of the way. If you're stuck in Azkaban then he believes he would have no one standing in his way.'

'He really is stupid, I'm fifteen and not trained. I don't know anywhere near enough, not with the different shitty teachers we've had. Remus was the only decent teacher we had.'

'That's why you got stuck with Umbridge, no one will take the defence job, and they think it's jinxed.'

'Well, one teacher died, another lost his memory, Remus was forced to leave. One trapped in his own trunk, the last one murdered, I would say it's jinxed.'

Sirius laughed making Harry laugh, 'You're right, it is jinxed, Remus survived though.'

'Maybe because he's a werewolf.'

'Maybe, is that all you're going to eat?'

'My stomach feels terrible. I'm not sick or anything so can I get up?'

'Sure, come on, let's get downstairs.'

Sirius handed Harry a dressing gown then kept his arm around his godson as they walked down to the kitchen. Harry might not be as scared as he was acting, but no one could know what he had done. He would do it again if he had to.

'I want to learn Sirius, I need to know how to fight in case Voldemort does get me.'

'We'll suggest it to Albus, maybe Remus can visit you at Hogwarts, once or twice a week. I can help while you're here.'

'Do you think anything will stop him though?'

'We will stop him, all of us, we worked well together before. This time though we're being more cautious. Albus had everyone in the order take veritaserum. Even though I hate Snivellius he even had the potion, he's loyal to Albus and you're mother.'

'My mother, what's he got to do with her?'

'Snape was in love with her Harry, we were going to mention to you next time you visited. Lily and Snape were friends before they even began at Hogwarts. In fact it was Snape that told Lily she was a witch.'

'Petunia said that she heard that horrible boy mentioned dementors, I figured she was talking about dad.'

'Snape, they used to hang out together and Petunia didn't like Snape at all. When Lily got her letter for Hogwarts Petunia began to call Lily all types of names, Snape made a branch fall on her. He denied it but Lily knew he did it, he was trying to protect her. But you see, he can't get over the fact she married James, you look like him.'

'He's always saying I'm arrogant like my father, but how can I be like him when I never knew him. At least it explains his attitude, he's worse with me than everyone else.'

'We did hex him all the time, me and your dad, but if he got the chance he tried to hex us. He wasn't liked at all during our Hogwarts days, he was right into the dark arts, a typical Slytherin. Your dad and I were liked and your dad was popular because he was quidditch captain.'

'And you were the good looking one.'

'Were good looking, are you saying I'm not now?'

Harry rolled his eyes, 'Well, you do look a little haggard Sirius.'

'You cheeky brat.'

'We could all die, couldn't we Sirius,' Harry sighed.

'Yes, we could, just like the last time.'

'Why doesn't Fudge believe us, is he in with Voldemort?'

'No, we don't believe that, we think he just doesn't want the impending war to disrupt his quiet and safe life. There's been no real danger since that night Harry, he doesn't want to believe all the danger and murder is about to start again.'

'He knew about Quirrell and Voldemort, he heard what happened with the chamber of secrets. He's putting lives in danger by printing lies.'

'He is, so we've decided to ask Xenophilius to put out warnings. Like with inferi, he used them last time so he may use them again. Most people wouldn't know how to fight an inferi.'

'I don't, I only know about them because it was in one of my books. But it wasn't part of the lesson so I didn't read anything on it.'

'Fire, they don't like fire.'

'Well, I can do that, conjuring fire is easy.'

'Yes, it is and this is the type of information everyone will need to know. Normal fire will work on them so you don't have to produce fiend fyre.'

'I don't know how to conjure magical fire, just normal fire.'

'It's not that hard but you have to be strong enough to control it. This is what one of our meetings were about, having everyone informed, we also want everyone to learn to conjure a patronus.'

'He used dementors last time?'

'He did.'

'Well, I could teach my friends when I get back. Remus taught me using a boggart I'm sure there are more about the castle.'

'Then Remus can speak with Albus about that, maybe what he teachers you then you can teach them.'

Harry thought of what Sirius said, teach them, yes, he could teach his friends some spells. He had no choice but to learn more advanced stuff when he was studying for the triwizard tournament. He wouldn't allow anyone to know that he could do some dark magic, he needed to keep that secret to help him survive. But he did know a lot of legal spells, so maybe now it's time to pass on that knowledge to his friends so they have a fighting chance. If Sirius and Remus teach him more, than his friends could learn which could keep them alive.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

Remus had spoken with the lawyer that Kingsley recommended, he decided to take Harry's case. The first thing he did was speak with the head auror. The following day Remus snuck Harry out of the house and down to muggle London. Harry, Remus and the lawyer spoke for a few hours, Harry even showed the scarring on his hand. He offered his lawyer his memories of what had taken place with Umbridge and in the hospital. Since he couldn't have veritaserum and he didn't want to lower his shields around his mind, even for his lawyer to look. Voldemort would slip in, and Harry didn't want to feel that pain in his scar again.

'So how did it go?' Sirius asked the moment Remus and Harry arrived back at the house.

'Good,' Harry sat beside Sirius.

'The head auror gave him the information on Dawlish who he questioned under veritaserum, Fudge ordered Dawlish to charm the letter. They wanted Harry away from all adults who would interfere with their questioning. I wouldn't have put it past one of them to use veritaserum on Harry, for them the problem was solved. Ever since all this got out, Fudge, Umbridge and the blood quill, more people are beginning to believe Fudge lied and Harry and Dumbledore are telling the truth.'

'So what's the lawyer going to do?'

'He plans to have Fudge and Dawlish arrested for their attempted kidnapping of Harry. Fudge will also be charged with an accessory for the torture of Harry with the use of a banned dark artifact. He's going to find out if any other students were made to use it,' Remus nodded to Harry.

'I offered him my memories of my times in the hospital and with Umbridge, she mentions Fudge and how he told her to control the students with any means necessary. The aurors searched Umbridge's office, found more blood quills, her home also had more. But they also found pictures of me, that she cut up or scratched up with red ink, with the words he must die, written below.'

'She's gone now Harry, she can't hurt you anymore.'

'I know, I was hoping they found out she was a death eater or proof she's in with Voldemort. How can anyone do what she did and not be classed as dark or evil? How many dark people are inside the ministry that could be hurting or killing innocent people?'

'We know there are dark witches and wizards in the ministry, it's proving it,' Sirius said.

'Once Fudge is gone, there are three people that would have the most support to be the next minister. The head auror is one, Madam Bones is another and Amos Diggory is the third. If Scrimgeour or Bones ends up as minister I can see them working on proof, like every arm gets inspected for the dark mark, or questioned under veritaserum. They believed even last time that the truth potion should have been used and people should have been visually inspected for the dark mark. Sirius wasn't allowed to speak when he was arrested yet they didn't pull up his sleeve to see if he was a death eater, that's all they needed to do. I admit that since Sirius always wore long sleeves that I thought he might have been even if I still found it hard to believe he would betray James, Lily and you.'

'You've apologises Moony, it's fine, but I said I suspected you as being the spy at one time. All of us were cautious and all of us were acting off or strange. We were stressed and scared.'

'I know, but I still feel guilty for believing it, you were in that place for twelve years.'

'I didn't realise how long it was, my mind just didn't register time or days, nothing. It just blended together, the dementors make it impossible to think. If they stay near you long enough you pass out and there were times I was out for days, the longest was about two weeks. I'm not sure exactly how long I was out for.'

'So you didn't realise how long you'd be there?' Harry asked.

'No, the first few months I did, but I kept thinking that I would eventually get a trial. After that though, no, time meant nothing, then all you want to do is curl up and die to get rid of the nightmarish memories.'

'I know how that feels,' Harry swallowed, 'I have to apologise Sirius, I thought you just sat there for twelve years without thinking about me. You saw the picture of Pettigrew then you escaped. I figured you just wanted revenge for him being part of your best friend's death, and that I meant nothing.'

'Oh pup, no,' Sirius put his arm around Harry, 'You're all I thought of when I first arrived, but the longer you are in the presence of a dementor and constantly in their presence, the more you sink into your nightmares. When I was Padfoot it helped me keep my magic and sanity, but a dog's mind doesn't work like a human mind, time works differently as Padfoot.'

'I hate being around them but they weren't near me very often.'

'Harry,' Remus said then waited until the boy looked up, 'tell me the truth, did you believe I didn't want anything to do with you while you were young?'

Harry nodded, 'I never knew who you were, I never even got a letter.'

'Petunia wrote to Albus, she agreed to keep you as long as none of us turned up or interfered. None of us were allowed anywhere near the house.'

Harry's face grew harder, the two men noticed, 'Harry, tell us what they did to you, we can tell by your face that something happened.'

'It doesn't matter anymore, he killed them, not that I care.'

'That statement tells us more than we would like. So even though they are dead we would still like to know.'

Harry sighed but looked down at the table, 'I never had a room, they kept me in the cupboard. When I got my first Hogwarts letter they kept taking them, destroying them. Vernon turned around one day and gave me Dudley's second bedroom, all I wanted was my letter, the first one I ever had. More kept coming so they tried to outrun them, but they couldn't, then Hagrid found us. I was basically a human version of a house elf, I began work in the morning, cooking them breakfast, I would only get one piece of toast and water. If I didn't finish the list of chores then I wasn't allowed dinner, sometimes I wasn't allowed any food for days. During the holidays after my first year, a house elf turned up to warn me about danger at Hogwarts and didn't want me to return. I was going to but the elf took my mail, wouldn't give them back unless I promised to stay away, I refused. They had visitors that night for dinner, some important client. I was told to stay in my room and pretend I didn't exist. Dobby ended up levitating a pudding onto the woman, then a letter arrived saying I would be expelled if did any more magic. Well uncle Vernon realised I couldn't turn them into toads so he put bars on my window and locks on the door, he even locked Hedwig in her cage so I couldn't send any letters. After a while they stopped feeding me altogether. Ron, Fred and George rescued me and took me to their place where Mrs. Weasley kept feeding me.'

Both Sirius and Remus growled angrily, both hand their hands on Harry's arms, 'Did he ever get violent?' Remus asked in almost a whisper.

Harry nodded, 'He wanted to beat the magic out of me. Dudley and his gang used to beat me as well. Aunt Petunia would occasionally wack me across the face or pull my hair,' Harry figured since he was telling Sirius and Remus he would tell them everything, he would show them as well. He stood up, turned his back to Sirius then pulled up his shirt, 'Vernon liked to use a whip he had specially made for me,' Harry pulled his shirt back down but before he could sit Sirius wrapped his arms around him.

'If they weren't dead I would kill them, at least I would have deserved to be in Azkaban.'

'Why didn't you ever tell anyone?' Remus asked.

'They made sure no one would like me or listen to me. They told everyone I was a delinquent, then they said I went to St Brutus school for criminal boys. Everyone in the neighbourhood was scared of me.'

'What about when you started at Hogwarts?' Sirius asked.

'I told Dumbledore they hated me and didn't really look after me, he said I had to stay because of the protection.'

'That's why you don't trust him, he was like all other adults, ignoring the obvious abuse.'

Harry flinched at the word before he sat down again, 'I was smaller than everyone else, I was really skinny, I wore oversized clothes, had holes in my shoes. I always returned to Hogwarts looking worse and usually had bruises or something showing. I tried to heal everything, most times I could heal the marks on my back but it drained me so I couldn't do the bruises,' Harry looked up at Sirius who was really angry, 'I hate Dumbledore, I don't trust him in anyway and I will not follow his rules. He can have his order but I want no part of it or anything he controls.'

'Even though he should have put you with a magical family, he should have removed you the moment he saw the state you were in. We will remain in the order but we will slip you information. If you can get some of the students trained then they can help but with you leading them,' Remus said.

'The twins don't really like Dumbledore either, they just don't let anyone know since their parent's follow him blindly. But why would they follow my lead, I'm not powerful.'

'You are the-boy-who-lived and once everyone knows the truth they will look to you to finish him for good. You're their beacon of hope Harry, it's just the way it's been since that night. They will follow you, some will rather follow you then Albus. So we train you, then you train them. I think we will start first thing tomorrow. Let's get dinner going and talk over what you need to know,' Sirius said then hugged his godson again. It was time to train Harry, to get him ready and hopefully he can bring out that leadership so he can train others.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven

Over the next few days, Sirius and Remus taught Harry a lot of spells, not all just to defend himself either, some were attacking spells. Both men were amazed at Harry's power as he forced both of them to continue to shield themselves.

'I really don't believe it, I'm a werewolf, I have more strength and stamina than a normal man yet I'm completely exhausted.'

'Why aren't you tired pup?'

'From the time I got that room I used to circle it continuously for two hours, then do a lot of sit ups, push ups, anything I could think of to starve off the boredom. But I also knew it would help if I needed to get away from Vernon and Dudley. They were both fat and lazy, I was strong and fast. Usually before or after quidditch I would run around the pitch. I made sure I had to go up to Gryffindor tower three times a day and the first few flights I would run. I only kept it going because of Voldemort's spirit disappearing. I knew he would return some day, whether he possessed someone else or he returned properly. I wanted to make sure I was fit enough, even if I needed to learn the spells.'

'It worked, you're probably the fittest of any witch or wizard, no one bothers to exercise,' Sirius said.

'But your power Harry, you never showed that when I taught you, even if you were top of the your year.'

'They punished me if I did better than Dudley, then I saw the way Hermione was treated so I decided to hold back. I figured if I got cornered by someone like Malfoy, they wouldn't be expecting me to do anything stronger than what they saw in class. I would go into empty classrooms and practice, I did that mainly so I wouldn't hurt anyone.'

'Harry makes sure he doesn't hurt anyone yet Fudge wants to blame him for killing,' Sirius growled.

'He does, but Harry, I will get you some books that have great spells and diagrams. I don't see you having any problem learning those then teaching others.'

'Thanks Remus.'

'Let's get some lunch then I have something for you.'

'You got me something?'

'In a way,' Sirius smirked then pulled Harry from the room.

When they finished lunch Sirius held out a cloth bag, 'This belonged to your dad, I have mine here.'

Harry's hand was shaking when he took hold of the bag, 'I only own the cloak.'

'We'll get you some things from James and Lily, especially now you'll be staying here,' Remus said kindly.

Harry nodded then pulled a cold and solid object from the bag, 'A mirror, are you trying to tell me I need to make myself look better, Padfoot.'

Sirius and Remus laughed, 'No you prat, just wait here,' Sirius got up and hurried from the room.

'What he is doing Remus?'

'Just wait and watch.'

"Harry Potter"

Harry jerked his head towards the mirror, 'Sirius.'

'Yep, they are two way mirrors, your dad and I used them when we were in different detentions. I'm coming back.'

Harry watched as Sirius disappeared, 'These are great.'

'They are,' Sirius grinned, 'So all you have to do is call my name and I'll hear you. Either Remus or I will answer, but I will keep it close to you can call any time, even at night.'

'If I have nightmares.'

'Yes, even if you wake with nightmares.'

'Thanks Sirius, I feel better knowing I can speak with you anytime.'

The following morning Harry, Sirius and Remus were eating breakfast when Albus stepped into the room.

'Dawlish has been sentenced to five years in Azkaban and the Wizengamot called an emergency meeting. Rufus Scrimgeour called vote of no confidence in the minister which was seconded by Augusta Longbottom. Cornelius is facing charges, a lot of charges, which I'm sure you will hear over the coming days. The Wizengamot have a month to call for nominees for minister then it will go to the people to vote. Now Harry, I normally vote on your behalf as you cannot take your seat until you are seventeen. I will need to know who you would like me to vote for.'

'Um, okay, but why do you vote for me, can't I nominate someone?'

'You can, but I have voted on your behalf since I did know your parent's. We had a lot of meetings back then, most believed your vote should have been given to others, some of those people supported Voldemort. Once I explained how I was close to Lily and James, how they were members of the order of the phoenix, I was granted voting rights on your behalf. Sirius might be your legal guardian but until his name is cleared he cannot vote for you. Andromeda Tonks was given voting rights over the house of Black. Now you are old enough, you can name someone else, if you wish, but I would advise against naming Remus because of his condition.'

'I know it would be hard for Remus to vote for me, but I was thinking of Mr. Weasley. I figured since you are already chief warlock then it could help having someone else, someone that knows what's going on but also someone that will do the right thing, like Mr. Weasley would.'

'I believe that is a good idea, right now I would be seen as influencing you too much. Would you like me to notify Arthur for you?'

'Um, yeah, if you could sir, that would be great.'

'We explained who might end up being named, Amelia, Rufus and Amos, I also think some will call for you again Albus.'

'I have turned them down, they should realise I prefer to stay at Hogwarts. If it was those three then I can see any of them doing a good job. Rufus and Amelia would use their knowledge of the law to pass new laws to stop criminals going free, but Amos would also like to see more questioned with the use of veritaserum. So Harry, I will have my fireplace open tomorrow morning at eight so you can re-join your classes.'

'Okay, thanks professor.'

'He will be safe, won't he Albus?' Sirius asked as he gazed at his godson.

'Yes, Rufus is leaving Dora and Kingsley at Hogwarts, he believes an auror presence should deter any of the students who may have taken the dark mark. Naturally they will keep an eye on Harry and his friends more than anyone else, just to make sure.'

'What if I can be there occasionally Albus, just to add a bit more security?' Remus asked.

'Yes, you are an order member so I doubt anyone will say much. Maybe I could get the governors to allow you to take over the defence classes since students like Harry will be sitting their O.W.L.s at the end of the year.'

'I'll help if they allow it and Padfoot can add some extra protection for Harry. It would not seem so unusual for me to have a pet. I'm sure Hagrid will enjoy having another animal at Hogwarts.'

'As long as he doesn't try to give me a bath.'

'Now that you mention it Padfoot,' Harry wrinkled his nose until Sirius had him pinned to the ground, tickling him, 'Remus, help.'

'Sorry pup, I don't get in the way of Sirius when he's playing with his godson,' Remus chuckled, even Albus laughed as he headed for the fireplace.

The following morning, right after Harry had breakfast with Sirius and Remus, he stared at them.

'So when will you be there?'

'Sometime today, stay with your friends, it might be good to stay close to Tonks and Kingsley,' Sirius said as he hugged Harry, 'We won't let anything happen to you pup.'

'I know, I'm just nervous. Do you think I should tell Hedwig to take my mail to you, Remus, so you can check it for anything?'

'If it makes you feel better then yes, I will check for everything before handing it to you.'

'Thanks,' Harry hugged both men again before he stepped into the fireplace.

'Right on time Harry, have you eaten?'

'Yes, sir, I ate with Sirius and Remus. Um sir, I'm going to get Hedwig to take all mail to Remus, but I can't do much about other owls.'

'Kingsley or Tonks will intercept any owls that fly towards you. Even though we know it was Cornelius that sent the portkey, it could give Tom idea's. Now I have upgraded the wards around Hogwarts to stop portkey's, which I should have done a long time ago, so I do apologise for missing something so obvious. But we cannot rule out curses.'

'I get that sir, but it wasn't your fault, if anything you prevented me being taken.'

'You are too kind Harry. But now, I spoke with Arthur, he said he would be honoured to take your voting rights. He plans to visit on the weekend so he can have a chat with you, just to get an idea on what you might like to do.'

'Well, I don't know much about the ministry or the Wizengamot, so I'll listen to everyone's advice and go from there. Do you have a preference out of the three we mentioned yesterday?'

'I believe Amelia would do an excellent job, but so would Rufus and Amos. Since we are heading into war, maybe Amos will not be hard enough to do what must be done even though he would make sure anyone with a dark mark is sent to Azkaban.'

'Thanks for your opinion sir, I should get changed ready for my classes.'

'Yes, have a good day Harry.'

'I will,' Harry left the office, even though he still didn't like or trust Albus Dumbledore he could tell he was finally being honest with him. He was also doing something, hopefully it will mean no more danger. But Harry also knew he couldn't make an enemy of Dumbledore, especially with Voldemort out there.

Harry stepped into Gryffindor's common room, he smiled at the few students in there before hurrying up to his dorm room where he found his dorm mates dressing.

'Hi.'

'Harry,' Ron yelled then rushed over to him, 'Are you okay?'

'Fine, spending time with Remus and snuffles was just what I needed. They are going to be here later, Remus is going to take defence, at least for now.'

'Finally a teacher that will actually teach,' Dean said.

'Yeah and one that's good as well. I have to change,' Harry went to his trunk, pulled out his uniform, quickly changed then walked down through the castle with Neville and Ron. He noticed that Kingsley wasn't far behind, Harry gave him a smile, he got one in return.

The moment they stepped into the great hall, the twins, Ginny and the girls from the quidditch team surrounded Harry, Neville and Ron.

'I'm fine, had a good few days with Remus and snuffles,' Harry turned to face Fred, 'Um, are you still interested?'

'Too right I am.'

'Okay,' Harry smiled shyly then he was being kissed, to many groans, whistles or crude comments.

'That is not something I want to see, my mate and my brother, snogging,' Ron grimaced then walked off with his friends, sister and other brother. But they couldn't help be happy for Harry, or for Fred who had liked Harry for a long time, now they were together, finally.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve

That night at dinner everyone apart from the Slytherin's cheered loudly when Remus arrived and it was announced that he would be taking over the defence against the dark arts class. Naturally the Slytherin's scowled and Snape glared, but no one paid them any attention. The younger kids liked Snuffles, who was with Remus, but he did sit beside Harry during dinner.

Harry, Ron, Ginny, the twins and a few other friends thought it was funny when Trelawney burst into the great hall. She was yelling about the grim and how it's attached to Harry which proved he would die. Snuffles turned to face the woman, growling and baring his teeth until she ran screaming from the hall which naturally made most people laugh, Albus was amused but acted like he wasn't. Harry gave Snuffles a big hug and even allowed the dog to lick his face. It did make him grimace but he knew it would make everyone believe that Remus' dog liked Harry and was willing to protect him.

Harry began to relax over the next few days, except when he was with Fred, who did things with his body and his tongue to make Harry a quivering mess.

On Saturday Harry and Fred were sitting outside near the black lake, snogging, when they heard a cough.

'Dad, what are you doing here?'

'I'm here to speak with Harry about his Wizengamot seat.'

'I asked if your dad would take my vote. Everyone knows I'm close to your family, so it won't seem unusual for your dad to vote on my behalf.'

'By the look of that snog, you are more than just friends.'

'Yeah, we're dating, it took me a while to get Harry, now I'm not giving him up.'

Harry blushed then conjured a seat for Arthur Weasley, 'Um, I've been talking to Tonks and Kingsley, I've asked Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore about the ministry and how the Wizengamot works. Remus and Snuffles gave me their opinion, I've been getting a lot of advice, but I would like to hear who you would vote for if you could Mr. Weasley.'

'Well, Amos is a very fine man, but we are heading into a war, I do not believe he would make a war time minister, a peacetime minister, yes, he would be excellent. I wasn't sure if the death of Cedric might change him, he hasn't. But I don't believe he would be hard enough and that is what we need.'

'I liked Mr. Diggory, but I think you're right, we need someone who's not afraid to go after people like Lucius Malfoy, just because he's rich.'

'Yes, we need someone ruthless. Amelia is a fine woman and she has been head of the magical law enforcement for more than ten years, and head auror before that. She has tried often to get more funding so there could be more aurors and hit wizards, right now we need more. If Rufus was voted in as minister then he would approve of many changes that Amelia would want, so they would work well together. If the roles were reversed I would see the same, they would work well together.'

'So either Rufus Scrimgeour or Amelia Bones,' Harry's brow furrowed, 'Okay, what about me and how I'm thought of, the-boy-who-lived? Would either of them want to take advantage of me or use me in some way?'

'Amelia would not, she would offer aurors to help train the students, not just you. Rufus on the other hand might approach you, he may, I'm not saying he would, but he may offer more one on one training if you were seen to support him and the ministry. If you suggested training for all students Rufus would agree. Rufus is a good man, he would do what is necessary, but he would also use whatever he could to get more support which will get more laws passed. Amelia would just argue her case even though the more support she had the easier it would be to have laws passed.'

'I don't want Harry used dad, and I know Scrimgeour did help when the auror try to kidnap Harry, but I still don't want him used. Who would you vote for if you would popular and well known, like Harry?'

Arthur stared down at Harry, 'If I had to make a choice and that was part of my reasoning, then I would choose Amelia.'

'Then vote for Amelia Bones. I trust you Mr. Weasley. There's not a lot of people I do trust, but I do trust you and your family. Well, sorry, not Percy since he followed Fudge and Umbridge.'

'You do not have to be sorry, Ron showed me the letter Percy sent him. I made sure to tell my son that he is not to correspond with any of the family again until he apologises to Ron and you. He knows that Fudge was wrong, but I believe he is embarrassed, his pride is injured, so whether he will approach the family or you, I am unsure. But I thank you for your trust, you can always count of the Weasley's for support. During the next holidays, we will get together with Snuffles and work on some lessons all to do with the Wizengamot and how the ministry is run.'

'I'd like that, but I have to say this and I'm sorry, if Professor Dumbledore wants Rufus can you stick with Amelia Bones. I know he can talk people into things, but I want to go with who you suggested without any influence.'

'I gave you my opinion and you told me who you would like me to vote for. I will stick to what I said, whether anyone tries to tell me otherwise. Now that is done, I will leave you and Fred alone, just remember boys, if you do more than snog, don't get caught. I don't think Molly would stick to one howler.'

Harry blushed, Fred laughed as Arthur Weasley walked away, then Harry was being snogged again.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed defence against the dark arts, except the Slytherin's, or most of the Slytherin's. Remus had to get the students up to where they should be, especially those that were going to be sitting their O.W.L.s. And N.E.W.T.s.

Sirius would stay as Snuffles most of the time, but when Remus had his office locked, Padfoot changed back. Sometimes Sirius would spend time as himself up with Dumbledore, he only did that so he could be a man and not a dog. Hagrid offered to look after Snuffles, even though he knew who Snuffles really was, Sirius refused, mainly because he didn't want Hagrid to treat him as a dog. One thing that Albus did do to protect Sirius was give him a pendant that was a port key. If Peter told Lucius about Padfoot, word could get back to the ministry. If they turned up for Sirius, he could activate the port key and disappear. Only the port key's that the headmaster had charmed will work inside Hogwarts.

When the vote for the ministry was finalised, it was Amelia Bones, but only by two votes. She appointed Rufus as head of the department of magical law then had Kingsley take over as head auror. One of the first things she did as minister was give the magical law department a big boost of funds so they could hire more people to train as aurors and hit wizards. The second thing she did was have a law passed where all ministry employee's must be questioned using veritaserum. She hadn't been sure the Wizengamot would past it, it did, but it was a close vote. The third thing she did was hire aurors from other countries, until they could get some new recruits then have them trained.

One thing Amelia and most of the employees at the ministry noticed right after the Wizengamot met. Many ministry employee's left, including quarter of the Wizengamot, they had not been seen since. As minister she was entitled to appoint people to the Wizengamot unless those members turned up. But if they did they would be questioned using veritaserum. It was time to clean out the ministry. But any member that missed more than two sessions of the Wizengamot would lose their seat for good. She hoped this would get rid of all of Voldemort supporters from inside the ministry.

Amelia had a meeting with Kingsley and Tonks, she listened to what they had to say then watched some of their memories of when they interacted with Harry Potter and Sirius Black. She could tell they were close and she could tell Sirius was very protective of his godson. She knew it was time to give the man a trial.

Harry was sitting with his friends and Fred at the Gryffindor table when a first year stopped behind him.

'Um, Mr. Potter.'

Harry turned, 'It's Harry, just Harry, so what can I do for you?'

The young girl held out a piece of parchment, 'I was asked to give you this.'

'Can you tell us who gave you that?' Fred asked.

'Professor McGonagall.'

'I'm sure it's safe Fred,' Harry smiled then took the note from the girl, 'Thank you.'

'You still should have had Tonks check it first,' Ron said.

'But if it was dangerous surely that little girl would have been hurt or taken.'

'It could have been connected to you in some way Harry, like your blood,' George said.

'Oh, I didn't think of that, pretty stupid,' Harry sighed then unfolded the note, 'Dumbledore wants me in his office after dinner.'

'We'll walk with you even though Tonks will as well.'

'I'll fill you in when I get back,' Harry looked at the note, 'If Voldemort was going to try to kidnap me, he could use his blood since it was my blood that he used to get reborn.'

'He could, I don't know much about blood spells, I've never had to study them,' Lee said.

'Maybe we could when we get time,' George said.

'Let's, if he has Harry's blood then he could use it, we need to know if there is a way to stop things like portkey's.'

'I hate this, I should be safe inside Hogwarts, all of us should be. Dumbledore did say he warded against portkeys, but would that work using blood?'

'We'll get some books babe, try not to let it worry you right now. The aurors are checking your mail before you get it, Hedwig is taking anything she has to Remus first.'

'Yeah,' Harry sighed then smiled up at Fred when he wrapped his arms around him, he liked it when Fred hugged him. He wasn't used to anyone touching him, until Hermione, then Sirius, now he had Fred holding him.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen

Harry's friends and Tonks walked him up to the headmaster's office, Fred kissed him before they left. Tonks was going to remain down in the corridor.

'You wanted to see me professor?'

'Yes Harry, we have some good news.'

'Is he dead?'

'No, even though I'm sure you would like to hear he was,' Albus gestured for Harry to sit just as Sirius and Remus sat beside him, 'Minister Bones was given some information from two of her aurors, two she would trust to watch her back,' Albus nodded to the two men sitting with Harry.

'She organised for me to be questioned using veritaserum pup, I'm free, cleared.'

'Sirius,' Harry wrapped his arms around his godfather.

'It's good news Harry, justice has finally been done,' Remus said.

Sirius and Harry let go of each other, 'So I will be organising a home for us, we will get out of that old dark house and into something nice. I offered Albus the house, to keep using it.'

'Are you saying I finally get to live with you?'

'Yes, you do, with me and Remmy, apart from the wolf nights.'

'I can't wait, will there be room to fly?'

Sirius laughed, 'Yes, I will make sure to find something with plenty of room. I wouldn't mind flying with you, I used to with your dad so he could keep up his practice during holidays.'

'Thanks Sirius.'

'Now the good news is over, there is bad news, Voldemort has finally been seen. Once he knew Fudge was gone and people had begun to believe you and I, he realised there was no use hiding. Kingsley has agreed to send more aurors to Hogwarts, to protect the students in case he decides to attack. Remus and Sirius are going to give extra classes to any that wish to take them, which was passed by Amelia and the governors.'

'But if some like the Slytherin's go to those classes they will see what we can do then have the advantage.'

'Yes, so Remus and Sirius will hold some information back, they will teach you, you will teach people who we believe are trustworthy. I would like you and your closest friends to put together a list of students who you all know are not involved with the dark arts or Voldemort. I know you are studying for your exams, so we decided two nights a week with Remus and Sirius, then you can use one day on the weekend. We went through proper channels Harry so no one could accuse us of deliberately leaving out certain students, we just did not mention the fact that you will be secretly teaching more than what is seen. As you know the students can have activities, groups, so this just means you can organise your own defence group. We do need more advantage, and we also need to make sure they do not know of our plans.'

'Even with the changes they ministry would still need to approve the curriculum for Hogwarts. It is allowed for us to teach more advanced spells but it's only allowed as long as we offer to all students. With you and this group, we are getting around that this way,' Remus said.

'It's a good idea, but I get why the ministry set rules for what can be taught. It's just right now we're about to head into war, we need all the help we can get if we're going to survive.'

'Everyone does, not just the students. Now since it won't be known about Sirius until tomorrow morning, he will remain as Snuffles until after the Daily Prophet is released. Then I will announce that he is going to join Remus teaching defence against the dark arts. The rest of the staff have been told, Minerva thought having two of the Marauders together teaching would corrupt many of the students.'

Harry and Sirius chuckled, 'They probably will, the twins especially.'

'We might have some fun, but we are also going to be serious, and don't say it pup.'

'How did you know I was going to say anything Padfoot?' Harry asked innocently making Sirius and Remus roll their eyes.

'You do have a lot of your father and mother in you, they often used the serious/Sirius comments. Now it's getting late, go spend some time with your friends and Fred.'

'It's good that you won't have to hide anymore Sirius,' Harry hugged his godfather, then whispered, 'Make sure you get the Slytherin's for the way Snape acts,' he felt Sirius nod.

When Harry was walking back to Gryffindor tower with Tonks he couldn't help wonder if there was more he could do to help end Voldemort before people died, innocent people.

'You're quiet Harry.'

'Just thinking Tonks, we're about to go to war, a lot of fighting, people dying, we have to do all we can to stop him but also protect the innocent. I think of all the first and second years, I think of all the muggleborns, we have to stop him.'

'We will, now that the truth is out and Fudge is gone, more people are being cautious, but they also know they will end up fighting.'

'Yeah, we have to figure out a way to deal with them, something that will give us an advantage.'

'We're all talking Harry, you'll be learning soon enough. Now get in, but if you feel like something is wrong, send your patronus.'

'I can send it to you but I haven't learned how to make it talk yet.'

'I won't need to hear anything, if I see Prongs I will know and be there with every adult in the school.'

'Then I'll make sure it's really serious or dangerous,' Harry smiled then gave the password, 'Thanks Tonks.'

'You're family, we protect family.'

Harry's smile got bigger before he stepped into the common room, 'Let's talk, privately,' Harry stared at Fred and George. They got the message, Ron and Harry followed the older boys up to the dorm room but Fred had Angelina tell Ginny that she was needed.

When the room was sealed and everyone had a seat they looked at Harry, 'First is good news, Sirius is finally free,' Harry laughed as the twins began and dance, Ginny joined in the Ron hugged him, 'It just won't be known until tomorrow when Dumbledore will make an announcement.'

'You said first, what else?' Ron asked.

'Voldemort's been seen, Remus and Sirius will be taking defence. But because everything they teach will be taught to people who might have the dark mark, they plan to teach me in secret then I'm to show all of you. Dumbledore wants us to put together a list of people who are trustworthy that will join our group. Remus and Sirius have to follow Hogwarts guidelines, but I don't.'

'Sneaky, some have said that Dumbledore was a Slytherin,' Ginny said.

'He was a Gryffindor, but he is cunning. Okay, so from every house or just the three?' Fred asked.

'Three, unless you know for a fact some Slytherin's aren't dark and won't talk about what they learn in our group. But I had an idea, something we could use and it's something I saw once on a movie at the Dursley's.'

'Then explain,' George said.

'Okay, we can use weapons that have been around for hundreds or thousands of years. What if we got things like blow pipes and sling shots, dip the spike in basilisk venom?'

'That would kill them,' Ron said.

'I know, but they will try to kill us and they have an advantage, they know more and they use the dark arts. Okay, I don't want to kill anyone, so is there something that can turn the deadly venom into something that will knock them out?'

'Sort of like watering it down, you mean?' Ginny asked.

'Yeah, I mean I was woozy, sweeting, I could feel the poison spreading through me and I knew I didn't have much time left. It doesn't kill straight away which could give us a way to make it less lethal.'

'Snape would probably know,' Fred said.

'Yeah, but we can't ask him,' George said.

'Dumbledore is an alchemist, which means he knows more than Snape,' Ron said.

'Okay, but would he go for this? I'm trying to think of ways for all of us to survive. If he attacks the younger kids won't stand a chance. We can train, yeah, but even then it might not be enough. We have to work on a lot of plans in case he does attack Hogwarts and take them out which gives us a chance.'

'Fred and I will check the potions section in the library, along with magical creatures. We'll see if there is anything about basilisk venom.'

'It would mean going down there Harry,' Fred said.

'I know, it'll be hard but it could be the difference between life and death. It bit me right as I killed it so its fangs are filled with venom and there would be more in its sacks. Madam Pomfrey is the only one that knew I was allergic to dandelion root, she said there is a chance any potion with that in it could kill me. I'm sure there are potions or something we can use apart from the snake venom. But it would be good to have the venom in case we need it, so we could sneak into the chamber tonight.'

'We'll get the venom then work on something to make it not lethal,' George said.

'Let's hope we find something. But what about your portable swamp, could we use something like that if they get onto the grounds?'

'We would need to make it larger so they would sink, we would need a lot of ingredients to make enough,' Fred said.

'And we would need to work on a way for them to spill at the right time, or they would dry up,' George said.

'Let me pay for the ingredients, we make enough to cover the areas around the castle.'

'What about we use pure venom on things like giants and werewolves?' Ginny suggested.

'Right, they might be weakened but not killed,' Ron said.

'They might, but I wasn't thinking about knocking them out. The giants will bust the castle doors to get in, then there are the werewolves who would attack, if it's a full moon dozens could be turned.'

'Like Remus,' Harry sighed.

The group realised just how much danger they might be facing now, it was time to get serious.

Harry wouldn't care about killing death eaters, but he wasn't going to tell anyone that, not even his boyfriend. Maybe in years to come and if they were still together he might admit the truth. Right now he couldn't take the chance, right now they had to survive.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen

Harry and Fred sat together in the corner of the common room, but Fred put up a privacy charm.

'Even though I would rather just snog you I can't keep thinking about all this. Something occurred to me and I want your opinion since you and George are the registered pranksters.'

'Okay, so tell me then I'll snog you.'

Harry grinned, 'People like Voldemort, Malfoy, Bellatrix, they will go for the unforgivables. They will expect us to use legal spells, which we will. But we can also use spells like reducto on their arms. But apart from that, why don't we use pranks to stop them or slow them down. Imagine if we could work on a way to make them quack like a duck then they couldn't say spells like the unforgivables since you have to speak those spells for them to work.'

Fred's eyes widened then he began laughing, 'I like it Harry, we'll get together with Sirius and Remus, work on how to delay them until they turn up. You are brilliant.'

Harry blushed, 'I just figured they would never see that coming. We could also do something like what Mad-eye/Crouch did when he was here. He had people tap dancing, jumping, all that type of stuff. We could do the same and make them bunny hope or do a cartwheel.'

Fred grabbed Harry's head then kissed him, hard.

After everyone went to their rooms. Fred explained to George Harry's idea. He loved it and they decided to get stuck into ways to prank death eaters, and maybe even daddy death eater.

The following morning Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George and lee all had a list of students who they believed were trustworthy.

'I have an idea that I wanted to run past all of you,' Ginny said, everyone nodded, 'What if we charm a piece of parchment, have everyone in this secret group sign it. We make it like the fidelius charm, so they can't talk about it, or we make it curse them in some non-lethal way if they do talk about it.'

'The fidelius charm might not be possible, it takes a powerful person to cast that. Putting a curse or jinx on the parchment is easy enough,' Lee said.

'We would need something that will show everyone they're a traitor, just not why,' Harry said.

'We could make it say traitor across their forehead,' Ron said.

'That can't be removed for months,' Fred said.

'And it's red or something easy to see,' George said.

'We could make it turn them into blubbering idiots, that way they can't tell anyone about our group,' Harry said.

'We'll work on the parchment during out free period,' Lee said.

'Let's get down to breakfast,' Ron said but he grinned when Harry rolled his eyes.

Fred and Harry held hands as they made their way out of the common room. Kingsley fell into step behind them making the group grin.

'Even though I'm sure all of us could take those slimy snakes, it's nice having an auror guard,' Ginny said.

'But not just any auror Ginny, head auror, we should feel very lucky and privileged,' Harry grinned.

'Yes, you should, I have a lot of work to do, but luckily, we've got rid of the bad eggs.'

'So there's no more like Dawlish?'

'No Harry, all were questioned, they want to see the end of Voldemort and his death eaters.'

'Good,' Harry sighed, 'Let's hope it can be done,' Harry looked back at Kingsley, 'Are plans being made to get the younger kids out?'

'Yes, but fourth year and above will be given the option to stay and fight, if it's needed. We're hoping he won't bring it here.'

'But you believe he will.'

'Yes, we do, imagine if he got control, he would have every parent under his control because he had their kids as hostages. We have to stop that happening.'

'What about if things go pear shaped and we can't get them out, but we get them somewhere safe, somewhere that only a few can access.'

'Explain.'

'The room that Dumbledore used to hide the philosophers stone, it way deep under the castle. Without any of the enchantments in there, it would be safe.'

'I'll mention it to Albus at our next meeting. But I did wonder if you were going to mention the chamber of secrets.'

'It's great, but Voldy can access that, and if anything happened to me, than those kids would be trapped. There should be a few people that know and can access the room, in case some die. I hate thinking about it but we know it's going to happen.'

'It is and we do have to take necessary steps to protect those that can't fight but also stop them before they get near the castle. Now go have breakfast,' Kingsley nodded.

'Thanks,' the group said together as they headed to the Gryffindor table.

'So when will everyone know about Snuffles?' Ron asked.

'As soon as the Daily Prophet is out. The staff and aurors, they all know, now it's time for everyone else. But I need to know something, Lee, you're a halfblood right?'

'Right, my father is a muggle, my mother is a witch.'

'Okay, you and I both have ties to the muggle world, are there laws that prevent us from using muggle things?'

'Oh I see, you want to know if you and I could use a gun because we have muggle blood you could say.'

'Right, I mean my grandparent's on my mother's side were muggles, I do have muggle blood, I should not have to give up that part of my heritage. I didn't like the Dursley's, but there are some good people in the muggle world and good things as well.'

'Well, we could try to find out, but I'm not sure there would be any books with those types of laws here.'

'I doubt Snuffles or Remus would know, they are both purebloods, Kingsley as well.'

'What about Tonks, she's an auror and her father is a muggleborn,' Ginny said.

'Hey, I forgot about that, it's good idea, she might be able to find out. But really, after the way I was treated I wouldn't care if it meant I was cast out of the magical world, not if I could put a bullet right between his eyes. The other problem is where would I get a gun?'

'That is something I could probably help with. My grandfather fought in world war two, he has his weapon. Now he wouldn't let anyone touch that but I know he could probably get hold of another gun. Leave that to me, but check with Tonks to see what might happen if you did use it. You wouldn't want to be thrown in Azkaban.'

'No, but I would disappear, I doubt they would find me in the muggle world filled with millions of people, and I'm not just talking about this country. Right now I'm not sure I would use magic or a gun but I need to keep my options open. He keeps trying to kill me, and right now he could easily succeed. We can't match them because they use dark magic, most legal and light spells won't do enough even if they can do some damage.'

'We can damage them, like Harry said with the reductor curse, what it could do to a hand, then bombarda, aim it at a leg.'

'Right, I never thought of those,' said Ron as he looked at Ginny, 'Would you feel comfortable using those types of spells on someone's hand or leg.'

'Yes,' Ginny said.

'Like we were saying, they kill, we won't but we can hurt them and do some damage at the same time,' Lee said.

'Then we'll add that to the list,' Harry glanced down at the end of the table, 'If she wants to join our group, should we let her?'

'If she signs that way she keeps quiet or ends up embarrassed,' Ginny said.

'Okay, we need to work on that parchment and more dangerous spells. Do any of you know what would happen if you used scourgify on a person?'

'That's another one for the research,' George said.

'Owls,' Ron said pointing towards the hundreds of owls flying into the great hall. Hedwig flew straight to Remus, she landed on his shoulder then held out her leg. Remus did a few checks then untied the Daily Prophet. He walked down to the Gryffindor table still with Hedwig on his shoulder.

'It's clear Harry.'

'Thanks Remus,' Harry held out his arm so Hedwig could jump onto it. Fred took the Daily Prophet while Harry gave his owl some bacon.

'There it is,' Fred grinned, 'Sirius, with a big goofy grin.'

'Yeah, he's a big kid sometimes, but I get why he's smiling,' Harry read the article then glanced up at Remus who had headed back to the staff table, 'He's going to buy us a new home, Sirius, Remus and I will be sharing.'

Fred hugged Harry, George, Lee, Ron and Ginny all smiled, they knew now that Harry would finally have a decent life with his godfather. Now they just hoped all of them would survive what was about to happen so they could all have a decent life.

Dumbledore stood, tapped his glass, 'As most of you would have read, Sirius Black was cleared of all charges. As it happens, three students along with professor Lupin saw Peter Pettigrew here at Hogwarts. He was captured, but due to an unfortunate accident, he escaped. Two aurors who spent time with Sirius were able to show Minister Bones proof that Sirius was innocent, they also showed proof that he did not want to harm Harry Potter, who happens to be his godson. Sirius, if you would please return to your true form.'

Sirius morphed from Padfoot back to human, 'I will be remaining at Hogwarts to assist Professor Lupin with defence against the dark arts. We have spoken with Minister Bones, we ask if we could train all of you in more advanced defence and offensive magic. She approved, as long as we stay within the legal limit. So even though you will still study and learn age appropriate spells, there will be time set aside for more advanced spells. I will see you in class,' Sirius nodded then glanced at Harry before taking his seat beside Remus.

'I noticed Harry's friends were all talking earlier, I believe they are putting together some plans,' Remus smiled.

'I'm sure they are, and I'm sure we'll hear about them soon enough. We might not be able to make Albus change his mind about what spells to use if Voldemort brings the war here. But I know Harry and those with him will go the extra mile if they have to.'

'They will and I'm glad they will, it will give them a chance.'

Remus noticed many students kept staring at Sirius, but he also noticed some of the older girls gazing at him. It wasn't hard for Remus to understand why, they were checking out Sirius Black.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter fifteen

Over the next month, Sirius and Remus began to teach Harry advanced spells. They taught him spells that Albus Dumbledore would not approve of. But they knew that unless they stepped up, they could all die.

Fred, George and Lee began to work on a prank that would make anyone, like death eaters, quack like a duck, cluck like a chicken, bark like a dog and meow like a cat. They were also going to work it to make people hop, jump, even do cartwheels. They had also began to research poison, especially deadly venom. They needed to figure out how to make a lethal poison, non-deadly. But they also wanted to make sure the poison could knock someone out. They did tell Harry they would use the pure venom for the giants, trolls and werewolves. Remus explained that basilisk venom would kill anyone, including werewolves.

Between Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Fred, George, Lee, Angelina, Alicia and Katie, they worked out who they thought would join their secret defence group. They explained about the parchment that everyone had to sign, no one hesitated. Sirius would use Harry's cloak so he could watch the group but also give Harry advice when he needed it, so far Harry hadn't needed any help.

When the bell rang at the end of class the students filed out of the defence against the dark arts classroom, except Harry.

'What's up pup?'

'Okay,' Harry sighed, 'we know he has the werewolves on his side. No one would survive if he turned up with fifty fully transformed werewolves.'

'No, the students would be the first to be turned or killed,' Remus said.

'What if…when we're ready, we work it to call Voldemort out instead of them turning up on a full moon?'

'How would you get Voldemort here?' Sirius asked.

'Easy, I call him a coward since he won't face me without all his pets,' Harry smirked making Remus's eyes go wide, where Sirius barked his dog like laughter.

'He'll kill you Harry,' Remus said.

'He wants to kill me anyway Remus, this way we dictate how it will start. But it also allows us time to get the younger kids out and work on our defences. Fred, George and Lee believe they are close to diluting the venom so it will knock them out and they are going to use a blow pipe. They have their animal mimic pellets ready to go. The pellets will last twenty four hours before they break down. There is enough venom to take care of the werewolves, giants and trolls. I'm not talking right now, but soon. The group haven't had any trouble with the spells you taught me, we have everything else ready, it's just the diluted stuff. I thought if we could get a heap of those two way mirrors then groups would be able to relay information from places like the towers.'

'Remus and I have been working on the mirrors, we have twenty sets ready to go. We also duplicated the map. We plan to make more as well. Then they can be spread out so we will know if one slips inside.'

'We just haven't worked out who would be watching up out of the way. It would be best to have some that aren't good fighters up there. They can still help without too much risk,' Remus said.

'Then the ones like Lavender would be best with a mirror. She is the only one that struggles and she takes longer to get the spell. She does get them but I think she doesn't really try to hard. She's not a fighter, she likes girly things like makeup and magazines on fashion.'

'Then talk to her and find out what others might not be good enough to go up against death eaters.'

'Colin will want to fight, but he's young so I'll see if he would agree to using a mirror. Since Minister Bones is Susan's aunt, do you think Susan would know how to fight? She's been great, but something tells me she's holding back.'

'I would say Amelia taught her a lot Harry. After they lost their family Amelia would want her niece to have a fighting chance. Susan would have to be careful that no one knows her aunt taught her spells that only aurors are supposed to know. Speak with her in private, she might be able to show you a few without anyone finding out what her aunt taught her. Right now we can't take the chance that Minister Bones ends up with a bad name which could get someone in that won't be as hard on death eaters,' Sirius said.

'I'll see if Ginny can slip her a note for me that way no one will see us together. But there was something I needed to ask. Back in first year, Fred and George had trouble with this Slytherin boy. They stuffed him into this cabinet and wasn't found for weeks. Fred and I were using the room of requirement to get some privacy, Fred spotted the cabinet. It was broken, that was done when they tried to find the boy. If he disappeared for weeks, does that mean the cabinet moves people somewhere?'

'Vanishing cabinet,' Remus growled, 'They are rare, but if that's what this cabinet is there has to be a second one.'

'I don't get what you mean.'

'They work like a portal. You step into one and vanish and appear in the other one.'

'So both of them could be here, but the second one was in a part of the castle that's been closed off for years. Dumbledore and Snape found the boy, so they must know where the second cabinet is.'

'They should have destroy them. I know they are rare and you can't get them anymore but it's reckless to leave them inside the school,' Sirius said, 'I'll get you to show me tonight. I believe we get it out of here, just to be safe.'

'We can't take it to headquarters or anything. What if the other one isn't at Hogwarts? It could mean anyone could get in. That Slytherin boy is one that follow Voldemort.'

'Then we destroy it,' Sirius said.

'Let me ask Albus about it. I won't make it seem like I was interested, just that I heard a rumour about a boy disappearing through the cabinet. These cabinets are not known since they haven't been around for hundreds of years. Whoever invented them never left the information so most wouldn't even know they exist. If I can't get a satisfactory answer from Albus then you can destroy it.'

'If we had the second one then it could be a way to get the younger kids out.'

'Give us a week, if we don't find the information then it would be safer to just destroy it. You best catch up with your friends, it's almost dinner time,' Sirius said.

'Okay, I'll see you both later.'

Harry swung his bag over his shoulder and opened the classroom door to see not only his friends, but his boyfriend standing there waiting for him. Harry couldn't help grinning as Fred put his arms around Harry.

They were sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating dinner when Harry leant closer to Fred.

'Remus said that cabinet you used on the Slytherin a few years ago was a vanishing cabinet. There are two of them and you pass between them. We're not sure where the other one would be. Remus is going to try and find out otherwise we'll destroy the one in the room.'

'I know where the other is, but I didn't know they linked. Right after we leave here come up to my dorm room. It's dangerous to talk about that here where anyone could overhear us.'

'Okay, so let's finish eating.'

Fred, George, Lee, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Angelina, Katie and Alicia all headed to the boys dorm room.

'First, we diluted the venom so it will knock someone out but not kill them,' George said.

'Great, but I had another idea for that as well. Muggles will use planes to spray things like vegetables and stuff. Now we can't use a plane but we do fly. Is there a way to work it so some could be up high on brooms, disillusioned then have the diluted venom fall like rain?'

'Should be easy enough, we just need to keep it in something until it's ready to be released. Using pellets might not work this time.'

'We need something like a garden hose but it would have to be connected to what's holding the venom,' Ginny said.

'We could have a backpack with bottles of watered down venom in there. We just need to work on connecting that bottle to a hose of some type,' Neville said.

'We'll work on it. Now the cabinet. The second one we saw, if it is the mate to it, was in Knockturn alley, in Borgin and Burkes,' Fred said, 'If they are the pair and worked as a passage way then it means any one dark could slip into Hogwarts without anyone knowing.'

'So we destroy the one here,' Harry said.

'Unless we can get hold of the other one,' Lee said, 'Think how handy it would be if we controlled the cabinets.'

'Okay, how much do you think it would cost if we tried to buy it?' Harry asked.

'We don't buy it Harry, we steal it. Even with the money you have, it would take too much. We can work on a way to make sure no one is near the place. We would have to hide the one here then repair it,' George said.

'We can't take long though. We have no idea when Voldemort might decide to attack. Remus and Sirius liked my idea of calling him out so we don't have to face werewolves on a full moon. I know he's still recruiting, but for all we know he could have hundreds of followers again.'

'We found a way to make sure he turns up when you call him,' Lee smirked, 'Using your blood was his big mistake. First is you can use a very rare blood spell to call your blood to you. There is some stuff about calling for the blood if it was taken without permission. It's like line theft. If you were rich and were a lord or something, using your blood could mean he takes all that from you. I still haven't found how it works yet, but I'll keep looking. At least you can make sure he turns up when we're ready.'

'So if you find this spell then I just recall my blood, which should kill him. Okay, if the gun idea or venom doesn't work then that should. You can't survive without blood. Okay, when are you going to get the cabinet and do you need any of us to help?' Harry asked.

'It would be best with the least amount of people. Leave it to us and a few products,' Fred said.

'We've got this, you lot concentrate on all the other stuff for now,' George said.

The group continued talking for a while before they figured they should get stuck into their school work. Fred and Harry snogged, but they had to force themselves to stop or they would never get anything done.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter sixteen

It was only two days later that Fred told Harry that they got the cabinet. Right now it's hidden in the west side of the castle in the parts that haven't been used in hundreds of years. They didn't want anyone to find it, and they still need to figure out where to put it so they could evacuate the younger kids when the time was right.

'Even though it was risky, I'm glad they remembered where the second one was. Alright, we'll take over fixing that one and work out where to put the other one,' Sirius said.

'Maybe we could set it up somewhere in the muggle world but we make sure to use muggle repelling charms. The only trouble with that is, how will the kids get home?'

'We could set it up near the muggle entrance to Diagon alley, or near the visitors entrance to the ministry. Either way they would have a short walk to get to a floo,' Remus said.

'I'll leave you to work that out. Whatever you figure out just have to be safe for the kids when they step out,' Harry said, 'Okay, the diluted venom is ready, the pellets are ready and we had another idea that might knock out all if not most of the death eaters.'

'Then explain,' Sirius said.

'We're going to work on bottles that will sit in a backpack of some who will be flying. The bottle will be connected to a hose. Fred, George and Lee are just working on making it work while in the air. They mainly worked it for someone to be stuck with a needle, so they just have to change it a bit.'

'Looks like all the plans are coming together. We have another ten mirrors and ten maps so far. These are little different, they will show up what the person is. If this starts then aurors will turn up along with the order. We have to know who everyone is. So if you see a name, say its Peter, it will have death eater next to his name. If it's Kingsley, then it will say auror. If it's someone like Malkin, it will say light side. We figured he would have ones that aren't marked so the map will say dark side.'

'That's great, even though it will help, I don't want the original map changed.'

'Since you're dad worked on it,' Sirius said kindly.

After dinner that night, Harry again sat with his friends to finish their homework. He was only halfway through when Fred got Harry's attention. They all headed up to the twins dorm room. They didn't say anything, just handed Harry a book and pointed to the part they wanted him to read.

The moment Harry finished reading, he grinned, 'This is great, it would mean it's over before it starts.'

'Yeah, but there's a problem,' George said then handed Harry another book, Fred pointed at the part he wanted Harry to read.

'Oh shit, um, okay, so what do we do?'

'Will you lot tell us what is going on?' Ron asked.

'Yeah, it's like we're listening to half a conversation,' Angelina said.

'I found a way for Harry to use his connection to Voldy to basically kill him. He does call his blood that was forcibly taken, which would basically kill him and the blood would return to Harry,' Lee said.

'That's great, now why did Harry say shit?' Ginny asked.

'The dark mark, Voldy connected it to him, it's not just to call them, it's literally linked to his very essence.'

'Oh, so if Voldy dies, so do all the death eaters,' Ron said.

'Right. So what do we do? We could end it before any more get hurt, but it means we're…I'm basically killing hundreds of people. If I did that they would give me to a dementor.'

'We don't tell anyone Harry,' Neville said, 'We all take a vow on that.'

'Okay, but it still means killing a lot of people,' Harry said.

'They would not hesitate to kill us, they would take the students hostages to make their parent's surrender. We also know they would kill people like muggleborns,' George said.

'Not to mention blood traitors,' Fred said.

'Which is what they call our family,' Ron said.

Harry sighed but he sat on Fred's bed staring at the words in the book. 'They would kill us without hesitation, they would also torture. People like Bellatrix would destroy people's minds then laugh about it. There are eleven year olds here that haven't even started to have a life, she would destroy them without hesitation.'

'None of them deserve to live Harry. I want her dead, just like you want Voldy dead. But you told us that Malfoy was going to kill you when you were twelve. That proves he would kill the kids here if they got in his way,' Neville said, 'We said it, we have to go further or all of us could end up dead or like my parent's. I know I would rather be dead then live like that. I have hope that someone will find a cure one day, but I still wouldn't like to live like that.'

'You said they laughed while he was cursing you,' Ron said as he shrugged.

Harry looked at Fred who nodded, then George and Lee who also nodded. He turned to Ron, Ginny and Neville who nodded. He turned to the girls from the quidditch team, they also nodded. Harry knew their history, just as they knew Harry's history. Everyone in this room has lost people to Voldemort and his death eaters and there was a big chance they, or their families could be killed.

'Okay, we have to set this up somewhere that is isolated so no one can disturb me during the ritual.'

'Well, there's the chamber of secrets,' Ginny said, 'Only you can open it Harry.'

'Yeah, but could you go down there after what happened, Ginny?'

'Yes, that way I could put that behind me. But it will also be the place that allows you to finish him off once and for all. I think its fitting.'

'Ginny has a point. He killed Myrtle using the basilisk, and he almost killed Ginny, he just used the diary that time. Its Slytherin's belief that Voldy followed and he used the chamber, so let's use it to get rid of him,' Ron said.

'I have no problem getting rid of him, it's the others that makes me feel sick. I know they will kill and we also know that many got away last time. We also see exactly how they raise their kids. If Draco Malfoy could get away with it, I have no doubt he would kill any one of us. They will be like them, but without their parent's influencing them I doubt they will cause too many problems. We know since Bones in now minister, she won't let them get any influence inside the ministry no matter how much money they have,' Harry sighed then looked up at Fred, 'How will you feel knowing it was me?'

'Nothing will change how I feel about you Harry. All of us here have suffered in some way because of the death eaters. I know losing uncles is not as painful as losing parent's, but we could lose mum and dad, or Bill and Charlie. I hate thinking this but all of us could be killed. We don't hurt people, we don't kill them. All we want is to live in a world that is safe and one day know our kids will not be forced to do what we're all doing right now.'

'You want kids?' Harry asked in a whisper.

'One day, when we're both a lot older and established.'

Harry gave Fred a smile, 'It makes me wonder how my parent's had me when there was a war on.'

'I've had the same thought,' Neville said.

'Ginny was only a few months old when it looked like he was going to win,' George said.

'And Ron was just older than you, so he was also born right in the middle of it. George and I were only a few years old, Percy not much older, then Bill and Charlie,' Fred said.

'I don't know how your parent's did it, or mine, or Neville's, or anyone's really,' Harry said, 'If we don't do something then yes we could all die, but the ones that survive will end up serving him or just get cursed. It means no kids are born that doesn't follow him.'

'He could even force purebloods to have kids,' Angelina said, 'I heard he allows his death eaters to rape muggles and muggleborns. It's not farfetched to believe he could work it for girls like Ginny to have kids with some of his death eaters so there are more purebloods.'

'He will kill muggleborns, he might keep some halfbloods but none that are connected to muggles, like me and Lee,' Katie said.

'You're all right, it'll end up with a full pureblood world that serves him and girls like Ginny and Luna could end up prisoners just to spit out a bunch of kids.'

'I'd rather kill myself than for that to happen,' Ginny said fiercely.

'We don't blame you Ginny, but it's something to seriously think about since we know they did it during the last war,' Alicia said.

'No, there's no use since I'm going to do it. He would use people like Ginny and Luna. He would kill off people like Lee and Katie. We know he will kill me, and he would kill people like Colin and Dennis. Then you have the Weasley family who they call blood traitors. You could end up cursed, dead or prisoners, or even servants.'

'Then let's work it for the weekend, and sneak down into the chamber of secrets,' Lee said.

'Let's all take a vow to never talk about this outside of this group, and if ask, we make sure they believe we weren't involved,' Neville said, 'That will keep Harry protected.'

'Right, but if for some reason they find out the truth, then we all agree to take the blame with Harry,' Ron said, 'Like we've all said, we've lost people, it's time we do everything to make sure we don't lose anyone else.'

Harry gave his friends a smile. They were going to stick by him even if it meant they could all end up in Azkaban. Harry didn't think that would happen, not with a vow. The vow will stop anyone from finding the truth. One thing Harry liked about this idea, yet he couldn't say it, was Snape. He had been a death eater, he still had the dark mark, which meant when Harry called for his blood from Voldy, Snape will die just like the other death eaters.

Harry did wonder if maybe some of their children were marked, like Draco Malfoy and his goons. He wasn't the only one thinking this, all of them were wondering will some of the students their age die when the ritual was performed. None of them really cared, they knew what people like Malfoy and his friends were like. If they could get away with it, they would torture or kill all of them, and probably children like the first years. It was time to end it, once and for all.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter seventeen

The day before the group were going to go down to the chamber of secrets, Harry had done a lot of thinking. He wasn't sure if he should tell Sirius and Remus. He knew they wouldn't care about the deaths, but they would be worried that Harry could end up in trouble. After going over the ritual a few times with Fred, Harry knew no one would be able to figure out how Voldemort died or that Harry was responsible. It took him a while to fall asleep, but by the time he did, he made up his mind, no one else will know.

Since it was the Hogsmeade weekend, the group made it seem like they were all heading into town for a few hours. It took a while, but in twos, they snuck back into the tower using Harry's invisibility cloak, then Dobby would take the cloak back to the others.

Once they were all in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, Harry looked around at his friends who all nodded.

#Open# Harry hissed then stepped back as the sinks began to move. He noticed George and Ron were on either side of Ginny. Even though she still didn't know exactly what she had done while being possessed by the diary, her feelings told her what she had been forced to do and how she almost died, all thanks to Voldemort. Just like Harry, Ginny wanted to put that terrible part of her life behind her.

Harry nodded then slid down the pipe. Fred went next, then the Angelina, Katie and Alicia. Once they were standing to the side, Lee and Neville joined them, then Ginny slide down with George right behind her. Ron came last.

'Alright, just be careful walking through this section. It's where Lockhart tried to obliviate us and the roof is a bit unstable, so no spells.'

'One at a time then, in single file,' Ron said.

Harry went first, slowly, carefully, Fred following then the others. Once they were all together at the big stone door Harry looked once more at Ginny.

'Are you sure you're going to be okay Ginny?'

'No, but I want to do this, I need to. I still have nightmares about that time. I'm hoping once you do the ritual in this place, my heart and mind will know it's over and he can't hurt me anymore.'

George put his arm around his sister, but so did Ron, 'Let's do it Harry,' George said.

'Let's finish this before more innocent people die or end up like my parent's,' Neville said.

Harry nodded then turned to the door, #Open# he stepped back as the snakes began to slide around the door. It opened and Harry just walked through, he knew the others would follow. They had a chance to change their minds, they didn't. They wanted this over before they died or people they cared about died. Harry continued until he was standing in the middle of the chamber.

'You know, if we're lucky, they might believe Voldemort did something with the dark mark which is what killed them.' Harry said.

'I had the same thought when you told us how he uses it to call his death eaters,' Lee said

'It is connected to all of them and he did use an unknown dark ritual to come back,' George said.

'Right, so for all anyone knows is the ritual failed but it took the death eaters with him,' Fred said.

'Yeah, let's hope people think as we do,' Harry said then pulled the book out of his pocket. Angelina, Katie and Alicia began to place the carved rune stones on the floor in the shape of a pentagram. Harry stayed in the centre while the others took their places. Harry needed to draw on his own magic but also those of his friends. It wouldn't hurt them in anyway, he just needed to borrow a bit of their magic to fill his own so he could call for his blood.

'Okay, we're all set. Are you ready Harry?' Lee asked.

'Yes. It says you will feel a pull but it won't hurt you in anyway. Just in case though, brace yourself on the off chance its wrong.'

'It's not, but we know to be ready.'

'Do it babe,' Fred said giving Harry a smile.

Harry sat down, crossed his legs, closed his eyes, then slowly began to chant in Latin the ritual that would allow Harry to take a small amount of power from his friends. Once he felt the magic surging into him, he began to chant the ritual to call his blood to him that had been forcibly taken.

The group around the pentagram all felt the pull, but they could also see a thread of light going from each of them and into Harry, which made him glow brightly. They all knew they could not talk or move, so they just had to stand there and watch.

For a full five minutes, Harry never stopped chanting. When the last words were spoken, he gasped loudly before slumping to the ground. The others broke from their places and rushed to Harry's side.

'Harry, babe, are you okay?'

'Um, yeah, tired, drained, exhausted.'

'We have to get into Gryffindor tower without anyone seeing Harry right now,' Neville said.

'Dobby can take us once we're out of the chamber,' Ron said.

'I think Harry and Fred should be on Fred's dorm bed. Harry can sleep, but if anyone wants to find them we let them, then Fred will pretend to be asleep as well,' Alicia said.

'Good idea, it will look like they were up to no good and fell asleep,' Katie said.

'We can go with that by saying we decided to give them some privacy,' Lee said.

'Then let's go make it seem like Fred and Harry got naked,' George grinned.

'I do not want to be caught naked by McGonagall,' Harry said as Fred helped him up.

'You won't need to be. It will seem like you had your fun then dressed before falling asleep. We just have to make the bed look like it was well used.'

'I don't want Fred to get in trouble either. I'm under sixteen, someone might…' Harry's words were cut off as Fred kissed him.

'As far as anyone will know, there was no actual sex. If they cast the virginity charm they will discover we're both still virgins. I'm sure they will believe we've done other stuff, but they won't be able to proof it.'

'Okay, I'll go with that even if it might be a bit embarrassing.'

The group made their way back to the bottom of the tunnel. They all took out the shrunken brooms from their pockets, resized them then flew back up the tunnel to the bathroom. When they were all there, Harry closed the tunnel.

'Fred and Harry use the cloak and stay behind us. Ginny, Alicia, Katie and Angelina right behind Fred and Harry. Ron and Neville will be back a little further as if you're just heading in the same direction as me and George,' Lee said.

'Back to Gryffindor tower,' George said.

Harry and Fred were under the cloak. George and Lee were walking in front and the girls directly behind. Neville and Ron a few feet back, just chatting as they walked back to the tower.

Harry and Fred did cuddle up on Fred's dorm bed while the others all stayed down in the common room. Ginny sat with the three chasers talking about quidditch. Ron and Neville began a game of chess while George and Lee were going over their notebooks where they kept their ideas for joke products.

All of them were waiting for news that death eaters had dropped dead. They knew they might not hear anything, but they were going to stay in Gryffindor tower until dinner time then just make it look like they were getting ready to head to the great hall.

When they agreed to keep all this between them, Harry even said he wouldn't be telling Sirius or Remus. They would get all protective thinking Harry might get arrested. Everyone agreed. It made them think that maybe the two Marauders might be the ones who see them first. They knew since Sirius and Remus had the new maps that their names would disappear, which is what they hoped. The map doesn't cover Hogsmeade, only the grounds and castle of Hogwarts.

When it was close to dinner, Harry and Fred walked down to the common room, 'I'm starving,' Harry said making the others laugh, but it cause some of the younger years to become curious as to why Harry Potter was hungry. The one person in there that ended up suspicious about Harry, was Hermione Granger. With everything she had been put through, she had been hoping to find a way to get back at Harry for how she was being treated, now she believed she found a way.

'Then let's get down to the great hall. I can't have my boyfriend staying hungry for too long,' Fred said, he gave Harry a kiss then the group filed out of Gryffindor tower. Hermione Granger also left the tower, but she wasn't going to the great hall, she was heading in another direction.

The friends were talking and laughing as they made their way to Gryffindor table. Fred pulled Harry onto his lap as the others all sat down. But while they were acting normal, they were scanning the hall to see if anyone was missing. They knew some might only be now heading back to Hogwarts, or in their dorm room, but so far they noticed there were only a few younger Slytherin's at the table. Snape, Dumbledore and McGonagall was not in the great hall.

If Snape died due to the ritual, then Dumbledore would be trying to work out how. McGonagall might be taking care of the other Slytherin's, or talking to people at the ministry. They really had no idea what was going on, just that there were a lot of missing people in the great hall.

More students did arrive, but there were still many missing. Just at the end of dinner Sirius walked up to them.

'Harry, Fred, you two need to come with me to Professor McGonagall's office.'

'What did you two do?' Ron asked acting like he had no idea.

'We haven't done anything, yet,' Fred said.

Harry stood but he stared at his godfather, 'We haven't done anything so what's going on?'

'Someone has accused you of something, sorry pup, I can't do anything until you see Minerva. I'm ready to get involved if I have to though. You'll understand in a minute.'

'Okay, but you're confusing me again.'

Harry and Fred followed Sirius out of the great hall and to the deputy head's office. They entered the room to see their stern head of house standing beside Hermione. Now they knew what was going on, Hermione had told on them, they just weren't sure what she told McGonagall they did.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter eighteen

'So what has she accused me of this time?' Harry glared at Hermione who just looked smug.

'She said that you and Mr Weasley had been engaging in sexual relations.'

Harry and Fred's eyes went wide then they glanced at each other before they burst out laughing.

'Enough,' Minerva said sternly.

'Professor, I admit that Harry and I were in my dorm room, alone, and we were lying on my bed. But all we were doing was cuddling while we talked.'

'That didn't last long as I fell asleep. I haven't been sleeping well as I keep wonder when Voldemort will turn up.'

'There's one way to know for sure Professor McGonagall, a virginity charm will show the truth,' Hermione said smugly.

'It would show the truth,' Sirius said but he stared at his godson who didn't seemed concerned at all.

'Do you two give me permission to perform the charm?'

'Yes,' Fred and Harry said together. Hermione finally lost her smug look.

'I think that's proof enough they weren't doing anything,' Sirius said.

'They might not have done anything this time, but the way they are always over each other, they couldn't resist,' Hermione said.

'Then do the charm professor. Harry and I have nothing to be ashamed of. We've talked and we both said we want to wait until the danger has passed and for Harry to be older. He didn't want me getting in trouble if someone accused us of having sex when he's only fifteen,' Fred said as he sent a glare at Hermione.

Minerva stared at the two boys before she pointed her wand at them and cast the charm.

'It seems you were telling the truth. You are both virgins, which I admit has surprised me.'

'Fred said no, but I also said I wouldn't do anything to get Fred into trouble,' Harry said then glared at Hermione, 'You're still getting things wrong and sticking your nose into other people's personal business.'

'She'll give up eventually,' Fred said with a smirk.

'You two may go. Miss Granger, stay.'

Harry, Fred and Sirius left the room, 'You surprised me, I wasn't a virgin at your age,' Sirius said.

'I was serious, I wasn't going to do anything that could get Fred in trouble, and he would get in trouble since he's over sixteen.'

'And I wanted Harry a bit older, and to make sure he was ready.'

'We also didn't want to get carried away when he could attack before I call him out.'

'We might not have to. I can't say much yet as I don't know a lot. But something happened earlier today, Albus raced off somewhere and hasn't been seen since. Snape is missing along with many of the Slytherin's, but also a few other students from other houses haven't turned up after visiting Hogsmeade.'

'Do you think Voldemort did something to the students?'

'Yes, maybe, I don't know pup. I will come see you once I know anything.'

'Okay, I know you'll tell me. So can we go back to Gryffindor tower now?'

'Yes, and just for now, stay there until I find out what is going on.'

'I promise,' Harry gave his godfather a hug then he walked off with Fred.

When they got through the portrait they called their friends together and hurried up to the twins and Lee's dorm room.

'What happened?' Ron asked.

'Hermione, she went to McGonagall.'

'Said we were having sex,' Fred said with a smirk.

'So did she do the charm?' Angelina asked.

'Yep, it showed us both to be virgins. McGonagall didn't look or sound happy with Hermione.'

'It's time for a new prank,' George said.

'The girls thought she would try something so they gave us an idea,' Lee said.

'So tell us already,' Harry grinned.

'We douse her shampoo with one of the twins new products,' Katie said.

'Hairy scary,' Alicia said making everyone begin to laugh as they realised what Hermione would look like when she next took a shower.

They all knew what this joke product would do. It would grow a person's hair continuously for more than a week. But it grows hair from everywhere. The head, eyebrows, underarms, legs, nose and the pubic hair. Hermione will be trailing hair behind her unless she locks herself in the hospital wing, panicking and hoping Madam Pomfrey could find some way to stop it.

They all nodded, which meant the girls were to pour the joke potion into Hermione's shampoo. The others were going to keep a look out until the girls returned. They had another prank planned for her, the next one she would lose her hair from her head but the hair from everywhere else would grow.

When the girls joined them, the friends decided they better get some work done, until they heard what was going on. Harry was starting to worry that it didn't work. He knew something happened for Dumbledore to leave the school when Voldemort was around, he just didn't know what.

Harry, Ron and Neville walked down to the common room to see their friends waiting for them.

'Anything?' Harry asked Fred in a whisper as he slipped his arms around his boyfriend.

'Nothing.'

'Let's go down to breakfast,' Ginny said.

The friends all headed down through the castle and straight into the great hall. As they sat down they noticed that Dumbledore was there and staring at them. They also noticed Snape wasn't there, and many of the Slytherin's were also missing, the ones from fifteen years and up were gone. Harry looked at Sirius who gave him the thumbs up, he made sure to look confused which Sirius and Dumbledore would take as he knew nothing.

The post owls arrived. Hedwig landed on Harry's shoulder, Fred removed the Daily Prophet, but many others were also getting copies of the Daily Prophet.

'Blimey, will you look at this,' Ron said as he pointed to the front page of the paper.

'Death eaters drop dead,' Neville said then continued to read the story just as everyone else.

'He's dead,' Harry said staring at the paper.

'Who?' Katie asked, acting curious.

'Voldemort. They found his robes, wand and a hand along with some dust they believe is bone dust. He was at Malfoy manor surrounded by dead death eaters, the three Malfoys were some of them,' Harry said.

'You mean Draco Malfoy got himself marked?' Lee asked in a whisper.

'Sounds like it. But how did they die?' Angelina asked as she kept reading the paper and making it seem like she was just as curious as everyone else.

'We are curious about that as well,' Albus said as he stood behind Harry and his friends along with Sirius and Remus.

'I wonder if the dark mark had anything to do with this,' George said staring down at the paper.

'Hey, the bitch is dead,' Neville shouted making the others give him a kindly smile.

'So it must be linked to the dark mark,' Ron said.

'Have you felt anything from your scar Harry?' Albus asked.

'I haven't felt anything in my scar since he returned. It's like the moment he was back properly, the pain and feelings stopped,' Harry turned to face the headmaster, 'What do you think happened Professor?'

'I am unsure. The aurors are investigating but so far they have not found anything.'

'Is that why Snape's not here?' Ginny asked innocently.

'Professor Snape died at the same time as all the death eaters.'

'One of the house elves informed Professor Dumbledore,' Remus said.

'Well, to be honest, I can't feel sad his gone. He didn't treat us any good,' Harry said, then furrowed his brow, 'He had the mark even if he wasn't a death eater anymore, so it has to be connected to the mark. It's the only thing that makes sense. Unless there was something else that connected them.'

'I need to ask Harry, but do you know anything about this?'

'No, I found out when I read this,' Harry pointed to the paper, 'But I would like to know why you would think I could have done this? I'm not just talking about how I could have done it, meaning the power I would need to do this. But how you could actually ask me if I did this,' Harry scowled then turned and walked out of the great hall with Fred and his friends hurrying behind him.

'I think you finally broke the last of his trust Albus. One, Harry couldn't have done this, and two, he wouldn't do this, but you basically just accused him of committing mass murder,' Sirius shook his head then hurried off to catch up with his godson.

'I doubt he would have any respect for you at all after that Albus,' Remus sighed then he walked out of the great hall.

Albus wasn't sure what to believe, or who could have done this. Was this caused by the dark mark, and if it was, how did it cause all of them to die. A lot of people died, but what saddened Albus was the amount of young people they had lost that could have turned away from the dark path. Now it was too late.

The friends acted like what was expected, upset for Harry, with Fred trying to calm him down. Sirius even tried to console his godson. He had been shocked that Albus Dumbledore could accuse Harry of doing this. Just seeing Harry's reaction should have been enough to tell everyone that Harry had no idea what happened, or why. Sirius decided to leave Harry wish his friends but he was going to talk to Remus about the new house they had bought and what they might do once they left Hogwarts. Sirius would see the school year out to help the kids with their tests, but after the way Albus treated Harry, Sirius wouldn't return.

Fred pulled Harry up to his dorm room, then they were snogging as they door closed.

'It worked babe, they are all gone and we didn't lose anyone.'

'Yeah, I'm shocked that the old man accused me though.'

'He shouldn't have, but to be honest, you were connected to him babe. If he was going to be looking at anyone, it would be you. But we made the vow, no one knows that ritual and those pages are gone from the two books we used. There is no proof that you, nor any of us did anything and that's the way it's going to stay.'

Harry smiled up at Fred then he took his wand and sealed the door, 'I think it's time for a real celebration.'

'You've just been waiting for Hermione to accuse us of having sex so no one will listen to her if she found out we were having sex, weren't you?'

Harry grinned hugely making Fred laugh, then within minutes they were groaning as their clothes disappeared and their bodies came together. Harry and Fred were going to celebrate that all was right in the world and they were together, forever.

The end:

I wish to thank everyone for reading, and hope I can continue to bring interesting stories for the fans of fanfiction.


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